The Smith Family
by Vanilla Bean CEO
Summary: There is good, there is evil and then there are the Smiths. With 15 rather outrageous kids and 10 equally quirky adults and an old power rising from beyond the grave there are sure to be plenty of misadeventures. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Smith Family.**_

_**Summary: **_There is good, there is evil and then there are the Smiths. With a lineage that the Bloors and Yewbeams could be proud of the Smiths are far from the accepted idea of a respectable endowed family. With 15 rather outrageous kids and 10 equally quirky adults the Smith family is sure to bring the Children of the Red King plenty of misadventures.

_**Pairings: **_Unimportant as of yet.

_**Disclaimer:** _I don't own the Charlie Bone books. This fan fiction represents the official views of the voices in my head.

_**Warnings: **_Occasional violent language and sisterly/brotherly love ***cough***

Just to kick things off I would like to thank those who contributed to the creation of these crazy characters and/or the crazy endowments they posses: **The Bunnies Will Kill Us All, Captain Loconut, The Ivory Quill** and my sister **Georgia **(who does occasionally have something worth listening to)

On with the story.

**Chapter One**

**The Smith Family**

For a long time the large farm on the hill outside of the city had been abandoned. The former boarding house that occupied the field had lain empty, the owners having moved away some time ago.

But now the house was full and inhabited. One big family had moved in.

The Smiths.

The whole family, all 14 kids and 10 adults, has always been together. Horatio and Alice Smith, their children and their grandchildren. All living and learning together - with the notable exception of Horatio and Alice's eldest daughter who had refused to talk her family since she had left home.

A major crisis in the family had prompted the move from their old homes in Worcestershire. Jacob Lennox had recently passed away due to a heart attack and his wife, children and the general extended family had needed a new scene.

And they had unknowingly moved to the home of their ultimate ancestor.

The field that ringed the house was now the scene of a great hustle and bustle as various children, leggy teenagers, adults and pets tumbled out of people movers. Children shouted, dogs barked and the several sets of twins ran about in circles, attempting to confuse everyone else.

"Everyone quiet!" David Smith, the eldest son of Horatio, said in an attempt to get things settled. There was no response.

"Yo' guys! SHUT UP!" Isadora yelled and absolute silence descended on the crowd. Everyone had stepped rather carefully around Isadora since Jacob's death, nobody wanted to aggravate a grieving wife.

"Thank you, Issy." David said to his sister "Room plans have already been decided but are subject to change at _our _convenience. And by us" he said, glaring at his eldest nieces "I mean your parents. This is how it is going to work..." he glanced around, pausing to allow chatter to die down.

"Rooming arrangements," he gestured to the house "Top floor, Lucien, Harry, Fred, Liz, Hera, Gabby, Allegra, Jas, Quin... when she gets here-"

"Quin?" an excited voice asked. Quin was Avara Smith's youngest daughter and had failed her mother in every single aspect. Avara was 'sensible' and had 'aspirations'. Quin was exactly like the rest of her family and was often shipped off to them.

"Yes. Quin will be living with us until further notice now...continuing, the top floor will also include Sebastian and Ruby. Lower level will be myself, Pamela and Isadora along with Addie, 'Thilda, Indi, Lane, Will and Vincent."

There was childish shouting as Adelaide and Mathilda joined hands, spinning in exuberant circles.

"Finally, the separate apartment will be Lolly, Pop and Elijah and Wentworth"

"Wooooh!" came the response from two, identical men in their mid 30s, who were surrounded by the rest of the family twins. "Living with mum and dad!" one called.

"Right on!" said the other, they high fived.

"If you two are done?" David asked, smiling as he looked at his younger brothers. "You will all be sharing rooms but there is nothing new there is there. Now, individual family conferences to sort out any issues. My lot? over here please."

The crowd separated into smaller groups.

David and his wife, Pamela, gathered their brood about them.

"Lucien, Jas any complaints?" David asked his eldest children, one of the sets of twins in the extended family.

"No, sir." Lucien replied for his sister.

"Good, you two get settled in." he glanced at his other children "Allegra, Gabrielle?"

"No daddy." said Gabby.

"Do I have to share a room with Gabby again?" Allegra asked.

"Yes, sweetheart." her mother replied "But it is quite a large room and after all the time you two have spent sharing, well, you can manage can't you?"

"Alright." she agreed "Come on Gabby."

"Addie?" Pamela asked "Are you ok?"

"Yes, Mama. I'm near you!" Adelaide smiled.

"That's right baby. Come on I'll show you your new room."

* * *

Across the way from David's family another set of Smith's conferred.

"Indi, Lane you two will be sharing a room any questions?"

"No dad." Indiana, the eldest of the Smith children, said though she was obviously not pleased with sharing a room with a younger sibling.

"No." Lane replied sulkily.

"Harry, Fred you'll be sharing the larger room with Lucien across the way. Any questions?"

"No dad." Fred said.

"No sir." Harry said, making use of his endowment. The ever-so useful ability to speak in Helium.

"Very funny. Willem, Vincent you two will be with on the lower level next to Uncle David and Auntie Pam. Any questions?"

"Nope." Willem said as he focused his eyes upon his eldest sister's shoes. They untied themselves.

"Willem." Sebastian warned "Stop it. And Vincent, don't you terrorise Auntie Issy's cats."

"Yes daddy."

* * *

Sitting on the steps of the big house, another family conferred, this time not a Smith family but the Lennoxs.

"Liz, Hera. My dear twins, you are together as always, alright?"

"Yes mama." the two said in subdued voices, red hair streaming behind them.

"'Thilda. You and cousin Addie are going to share a room. Is that okay? I'll be right across the hall."

"Yes mummy." the eight year-old replied, climbing into her mother's lap.

"Come now girls." Isadora said "Daddy wouldn't want us to be sad, would he?"

"No." Hera said "But it is strange not having him."

"We still have everyone else." Liz said, twiddling a dandelion between her fingers.

"Elizabeth Lennox." her mother reprimanded "You will not harness the flowers to terrorise your cousins on the first day. Understood?"

Liz sighed "Yes mama."

* * *

Sitting on the porch of the smaller house sat the correspondingly smallest group.

Elijah and Wentworth Smith, the as of yet unmarried, troublesome duo-dynamos, were laughing together over a word their nieces, Jas and Liz has come up with. The word was Chihmuahaha.

"What is this you are laughing about now, boys?" their mother, Alice, asked.

"Jasmine and Liz came up with a new word on the trip here. Chihmuahaha"

"Chihmuahaha?" Alice asked.

"Yeah. Because Chihuahua is spelt Chi-Hua-Hua. Therefore, Chihmuahaha"

Horatio shook his head indulgently at the boisterous temperaments of his youngest children "Isn't it about time for you boys to move out?"

"Aww. No way pops!" Elijah said "We're gonna be here until we're one hundred" he smiled, showing the results of recent use of his endowment, green teeth.

"Well it must be time for you two grow up at least." Horatio said.

"NEVER!" Wentworth declared, as he turned his ears blue.

* * *

On the outskirts of the heights, Bloors Academy loomed, menacingly, over the rest of the town.

Inside the old building the Bloor family was seated around their overly large dining room table. They were discussing the new endowed family (families) that had arrived in town.

"It as a very large family." Ezekiel said "And most of them possess rather extraordinary endowments."

"Stupid endowments." Manfred muttered.

"But they are there all the same!" Ezekiel cried "Do not be so quick to doubt, Manfred!"

"Yes, sir." Manfred replied sulkily.

"There a quite a few of school aged children among the family" Harold said, as he flicked through some files "Yes...There is a lot of them. 10 children of age to be accepted into our school"

"Who?" Ezekiel asked eagerly.

"The eldest are in their final year of schooling...uh...Jasmine, Lucien and Elane Smith, Quintina Frellor and Elizabeth and Hera Lennox."

"Six already!" Ezekiel was obviously excited "The others?"

"There is Allegra and Harry Smith who are two years younger"

"Excellent. The others?"

"Gabrielle and Fred Smith"

"So many talents...so many talents" Ezekiel appeared to be on the verge of crying.

"So many stupid talents." Manfred said picking up one of the files "Apparently Allegra Smith can make pink rubber ducks appear out of thin air. _Pink. Rubber. Ducks!"_

"Details!" Ezekiel said, waving a hand about "Harold! You must arrange an interview with the various parents."

"But...Grandfather, shouldn't we review their merits?"

"Nonsense Harold! Put those who are good at drama in drama. Those who are good at art in art and those who are not good at anything in music."

"Fine" Harold sighed "I'll send out the letters tomorrow"

"Actually I think you ought to drive out and meet them yourself." Ezekiel said "Give it that personal touch."

Tbc…


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**The Smith Family**

The expensive car drove up the long, winding, drive way, becoming coated in the tan dust that flew up from behind the tyres.

"DDDDAAAAADDDD!" Jasmine called from her perch in a large Pine Tree outside of the house "We have visitors!"

David Smith, who had been rather tentatively prying two marmalade cats apart, looked up. How they had been suddenly made magnetic and then promptly stuck together would have been, in an ordinary family, inexplicable. In the Smith family, however, the offending child had been quickly apprehended and was now sitting in solitary confinement in the laundry.

The car came to a stop and Harold Bloor stepped from the drivers side, looking positively dapper in a dark suit.

"Mr. Smith?" Harold asked, striding towards David "I am Harold Bloor, I have come out to discuss the enrolment of your children in my school...?"

"Ah yes." David said, dusting his hands off on his jeans "We had been hoping for a response, If you'd care to step this way I'll get my brother and sister so that we may talk."

David ushered Harold into the small apartment, the sacred house, the house in which no children entered lest they inspired the 'wrath' of their grandfather, in the form of no ice-cream sundaes on Friday nights.

"Sebastian, Issy!" David called "Pam, Ruby. Dr. Bloor has come to talk about the children's enrolment."

The other parents quickly made their way to the house, leaving the eldest kids to watch their younger siblings. That was a mistake that every parent makes at some time or another as no young child wants to be under the authority of their elder counterparts.

Within 10 minutes Lane and Hera were up to their eyeballs in complaining children – Vincent had made Willem's budgies magnetic and then stuck them together, Adelaide had animated some of her socks which were now terrorising Gabby and Harry was singing in endowed helium voice, causing Fred to attempt to drown out the noise by playing a Miley Cyrus CD at full volume.

As for the rest of the Smith children – Lucien and Allegra were having a mock sword fight on the porch of the house, Liz was lying among the dandelions slowly animating them after which she fed them bits of tuna, Jasmine was sitting at the top of the Pine Tree, Mathilda was hanging upside down from a branch and Indiana was studying in her bedroom, ipod plugged into her ears.

"GUYS! GUYS!" Lane was desperately trying to gain some control over the situation, "PLEASE BE QUIET!"

Silence descended for about one minute until Lucien yelled "En garde!" at Allegra and the noise started all over again.

Harry's singing reached a frantic pace and Fred turned the music up even louder, beginning to belt out '7 Things'

Gabby shrieked as Adelaide's murderous sock puppet latched onto her ankle.

Willem tackled Vincent to the ground, pushing his face into the dirt.

Lucien jabbed Allegra in the stomach with his stick and she fell to the floor, crying out dramatically.

Liz began to laugh maniacally as the dandelions came to life, snapping at her fingers.

Mathilda jumped out of the tree and climbed onto Hera's back.

Jasmine began throwing pine cones at her family below.

Lane shook her head in despair and then joined Hera in the fight against Mathilda.

Indiana, having had enough, threw open her bedroom window and looked at the fracas outside.

"EVERYONE! SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Silence was instantaneous. Indi was usually rather sensible but on occasion she could be just as loud as the rest of the family.

"THANK YOU!" She said "Some of us are trying to work!"

Down below Allegra laughed as she tripped Lucien over with her ankle.

"ALLEGRA!" Indiana yelled, "If you don't stop it I'll turn you all plaid!"

Everyone remained staring at Indiana's window even after she had returned to her study. The threat of clashing with everything for the rest of their lives lingering in everyone's mind. The track switched to a bad rendition of 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'

In the midst of this almost unnatural coupling between silence and music a taxi pulled into the yard.

"QUIN!" Jasmine yelled, climbing down the tree at a break neck pace. Scattering bark and pine needles as she went.

A tall, pale girl with black, sixties-style hair was climbing out of the taxi as the driver went around to the trunk to pull out a bunch of suitcases.

"Sup' my family!" Quin called as the driver pulled away, after relieving Quin of quite a bit of the money in her wallet.

All children with complaints about their siblings crowded around Quin.

"Vincent made my birdies magnetic -"

"Harry's been singing in the helium voice -"

"Fred has been listening to Miley Cyrus -"

"Addie made her sock puppets attack me -"

"Liz is making the pretty dandelions evil -"

"Woah guys!" Quin said "Enough! Chillax my peeps"

"Luci took the last of the sultana bran and Harry took all the milk and I had to have stupid toast for breakfast! IT'S SO UNFAIR!"

That was Jasmine.

"Jasmine, what are you doing?" that was her grandfather "Oh, Quin you're here. Did anybody bother to show you to your room?"

"Ah...no, Pop. Is that room anywhere around here?" Quin gestured absently.

"You and Jasmine are sharing a room. Jas, Lucien help Quin with her bags and take them upstairs. Your parents are nearly finished with Dr. Bloor"

Jasmine sighed and waved her twin over, picking up some of Quin's bags and then yelling at her cousin to help.

"I can't believe we're sharing a room!" Quin blabbered excitedly as she was led through the house to the upper floor, "You've always been my favourite cousin!"

"Hey!" Lucien said "That hurts. Right here" he placed a hand over his heart.

"Chill Lucien...I still love you" Quin said as Jas pushed her bedroom door open "Ooh. I like this room!"

There were two white, single, beds pushed against two corners opposite the door, the foot of each bed meeting in the middle of the far wall. There was a long desk near the door with a bunch of shelves, mainly empty, above it.

The wall above the beds had a few old drama photos and masks pinned above it already.

The floor was littered with half full cardboard boxes.

"I love unpacking!" Quin said, excitedly as she dumped her stuff on the as-of-yet, unmade bed.

Jasmine raised her eyebrows, giving Quin a _you-are-crazy-what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about _look. "Whatever. Lucien what happened to my salt and vinegar chips? They were right here under the loose floor board and you are the only one who currently knows about it"

Lucien had the good grace to look sheepish "I was hungry. Fred ate all of my starbursts"

"But _my _chips! MINE! I'm your twin how -"

"Being my twin you should be willing to share all your possessions with me"

"Yes! Wait...NO! Couldn't you have asked me?"

"You were asleep or partly asleep, some movie was playing on your laptop. Not sure what it was... something about 'If you going to kill someone kill them..."

"Van Helsing" Jasmine nodded, deciding to ignore the fact that the conversation had been smoothly diverted. "Quin what are you doing?"

"Decorating!" Quin was in the process of putting up a bunch of posters and photos that she had pulled out of her trunk.

"Oooh. That is _wonderful._" Quin had just unrolled a large promotional poster from the final Lord of the Rings movie.

"I know, eh? It is actually Zylia's but I stole it. I'll probably get a phone call tonight when she gets back from her music retreat thingo."

"Music retreat?" Jasmine shuddered "I do not know what is wrong with that girl. No offence Quin"

"Bah! None taken. It shames me to call Zylia my sister. She has not a single drop of Smith blood. I blame my father for that. Though what happened to mum is beyond me. She is born and _bred _Smith. It is tragic"

"Yeah I know Indi is li-" Whatever Jasmine was about to say was interrupted by Gabby barging in.

"Mum and Dad want to see you all in Lolly and Pops house. They've enrolled us in that stupid genius school."

Lucien, Quin and Jasmine exchanged alarmed glances. Well, Quin and Jasmine did, Lucien seemed mildly surprised.

The three, with Gabby stamping along behind, trooped back outside and across the field to their grandparents house, the expensive car had gone, and Gabby pushed open the door.

Inside was a riot of colours as 10 ten children from Harry up to Liz and Hera attempted to squish onto the two small couches in the living room.

Jasmine and Quin quickly pushed their younger family members off the couches, while Lucien remained standing by the door.

"Guys, could you please be quiet?" Isadora asked as she stood up "We have something rather important to talk to you about"

"If this is about going to that stuffy old genius school then I am not going!" Liz declared "Look what happened to Avara. Screwed her up right and proper that school did!"

"ELIZABETH LENNOX!" her mother yelled "That was completely out of line! Outside right now!"

Liz stood up, her face resigned and was frog marched outside by her mother.

Sebastian Smith stood up and took over proceedings.

"I do not _ever _want to here any of you speak about Bloors Academy or your Aunt Avara in such manner. Am I understood?"

There was some muttered agreements. Nobody wanted to offend the former Naval Commander.

"Now. You have all been enrolled at Bloor's Academy which is run by Dr. Bloor. The Academy has a specific program for the Children of the Red King and the Bloor family themselves are descended from Borlath."

"Sir?" Lucien raised his hand.

"Lucien."

"I've heard the school is for children gifted in Art, Drama or Music. I was wondering which departments you had chosen for us."

"I was just getting to that. Now, you have no choice in which department you are in so don't even think about complaining. Art: Gabby, Hera and Liz"

"Yeah!" Gabby jumped up and punched the air.

Sebastian frowned but said nothing "Drama: Jasmine, Lucien, Lane and Quin."

"Hi-5!" Quin called and she and Jas smacked hands.

"Thank-you girls!" Sebastian said, somewhat exasperated "Now, everyone else is in music, so that is Allegra, Fred and Harry"

"Music? Oh come on!" Allegra complained "I can't be in _music!"_

"And why not? You play the piano and sing, I care not if you don't like it."

There was mutinous muttering but no further comment from Allegra.

"Fred you are going to be playing the trombone-"

"Awesome!"

"-and Harry you will be playing piano again"

"I gave up piano for a reason, Dad. I've lost my feel for it."

"As I said before, you have no choice. You are no actor and you can't draw to save your life. You are going to be doing piano"

"Fine then." Harry was very sullen.

Sebastian gave him a hard look. "Now that's settled. Your uniforms will be arriving in the next few days and you will be starting school at the beginning of next semester which is in...two weeks."

There was a chorus of groans.

"Yes, yes. It's awful. My heart bleeds for you all" Horatio said "Now all of you get of my house. Doctor Who is about to start."

"Ohmigosh! Everyone get the hell out. Pops and I are going to watch Doctor Who!"

Lane was up and pushing everyone out of the house. Jasmine got up to help and then Liz rushed back in, getting a prime spot in-front of the T.V.

Yes. Horatio had successfully corrupted three of his eldest grand-daughters. They where all firm believers in the power of the T.A.R.D.I.S and the Time Lords.

"Aaah! Everyone get out! Get out! Doctor Who! You shall not take me alive!" Quin ran out of the room, dragging Lucien and Gabby with her.

"Idiot." Jas muttered before turning her attention to the screen. "I love this episode!"

"Meh. Season 3 is better"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**The Smith Family**

"ELIZABETH MARISA LENNOX! HURRY UP!"

"I'M COMING DAMNIT!"

It was the first day of school for the Smith children and so far they were not off to a good start. Liz was running late. As was Gabby, Allegra, Fred and Harry.

Hera and Lucien where sitting down stairs in the kitchen helping themselves to more pancakes as they waited for the rest of their family. Lane was sitting outside playing ball with Adelaide and Mathilda.

Quin and Jasmine had already left for the long trek down to the bus stop. They left before everyone else so that they could stop and say hello to every cat they happened upon.

"HARRY, FRED! GABBY, ALLEGRA! YOU ARE GOING TO MISS THE BUS!"

"They might be trying for that." Lucien intoned from his perch at the table.

"I think I'll go and hurry Liz up" Hera murmured, "She may need some help finding her Elmo socks."

* * *

After another 20 minutes of chaos and confusion the majority of the Smith children were ready to go.

They were currently walking down the ridiculously long driveway that led to the bus stop. About half way along they came across Quin and Jas who where crouched down in the middle of about 8 cats.

"Really you two. Don't you have anything better to do?" Lane shook her head at her cousins.

Quin scowled "Chill out Laney. We're coming."

Of course the buses was already at the stop by the time the family got there. Lane shot Quin a triumphant look.

"I _told _you" Lane said.

"Shut up Lane." Quin said as she rushed towards the Drama bus. "You can _not _just walk past a kitty without saying hello. Mornin' sir, sorry we're late. Some people can _not _stay on track" Quin was talking animatedly with the bus driver while Lane stood outraged a step or so behind her.

"Hurry up Quin. Other people have to get on the bus as well"

"Ya-de-Ya. Jeez Lane, you sound like you want to get to school"

* * *

Quin walked through the imposing doors of Bloors academy surrounded by hundreds of other children with their cloaks streaming out behind them all in three hues. Green, Blue or Purple. She was only mildly aware of her own purple cloak that streamed out behind her, she was concentrating more on following Jas and Lucien as they wove their way through the crowd with ease.

"Gaah! Jasmine I don't do well with crowds."

"Quin can you chill, please? I'm just as freaked out as you are."

Quin snorted and then latched onto Lucien's arm "See any cute guys?"

"No Quin. I, oh so regrettably, do not."

"Damn. Which way are we going?"

"We are going in whatever direction Jasmine picks for us."

Lane turned around and glared at her cousins "Shush. We're not supposed to talk. We're going to visit the headmaster, he wants to see us."

Quin's eyebrows quirked. She didn't want to see the headmaster. She wanted to see cute guys dammit!

The six eldest Smith children wended their way through the crowd, parting it like the Red Sea. How Jasmine knew where she was going was beyond some of her cousins who could barely tell upside from right side.

Eventually the six were safely outside the headmaster's office and Lane turned to face them "You need to behave." she said, staring directly at Quin.

"Hey I'm the eldest here shouldn't I be telling _you _to behave?"

"Actually Liz and Hera are the eldest here and anyway, I act older." Lane's reply triggered a response of sniggers from the rest of the family. There had been an ongoing debate in the family for some years about which of them was the most mature – it had not yet been decided.

Quin glared at Lane as she raised her hand to knock on the door "Well if you are so mature why didn't you knock on the door?"

"That makes no sense."

"Yeah, so what?" Quin said as the door opened and Dr. Bloor peered out.

"Ah. The elder Smith children. Please come in."

After a whole load of squabbling, the Smiths ended up in the office standing before Dr. Bloor's desk. There was much shuffling as Hera attempted to keep Liz from the small cactus on a shelf.

"We didn't have time to talk when I previously visited your parents. I am Harold Bloor the headmaster of this school which is run for both the gifted and endowed."

Quin nodded her head in a big, sarcastic motion "That is really, very nice sir. But with all due respect _why _did you need to call _us _to your office for _this?"_

Lane pressed her palm to her face, she had thought that Quin would behave just to prove she was more mature. Obviously not.

"A reasonable question. I called you here because out of your large family you are the eldest children attending here. I would hope you will be keeping your siblings in line. If there is even the slightest hint of any trouble and I will be holding you six responsible."

"WHAT!" Liz exploded "That is completely unfair!"

"But nonetheless that is the way it will be."

"No way." Liz shook her head "I have better things to do than watching my cousins. It's not as though they seriously misbehave, they're just having fun like the rest of the kids at this boring school ought to."

Quin and Jas nodded their heads in agreement. Hera, Lucien and Lane tried to look everywhere but at Dr. Bloor.

"Be that as it may, the kids at this, as you so eloquently put it, 'boring school' are trying to get something out of their lives. The...unique endowments in your family have potential to cause great trouble. This is the way it will be, am I understood?"

Hera put a restraining hand on her sister's arm "Perfectly sir. We shall keep the rest of our family under control."

"Very good. Dismissed."

The children trooped out and amid much muttering made their way back to the main hall.

"Now remember guys," Hera said as they approached "You can't talk in the hall.

"Yeah, yeah" Quin waved a hand about in an airy manner.

Jasmine and Lucien gave mirror smiles "Silence in the hall, talking not at all, never cry or call, even if you fall. Be you small or tall."

"It is freaky," commented Lane "That you two bothered to learn that."

They gave identical shrugs and then moved towards the Drama cloak room.

"Have you noticed that none of us oldies are in music?" Lane whispered to Quin as she waved to Hera and Liz who were going to the Art room.

"It's because we're made of awesome."

* * *

Liz was late.

This in itself was not too unusual. But it was for her second lesson at new school. So it was somewhat important.

She ran, down a corridor she assumed was going south, and thus towards the south wing, where her class might be located.

And she hit someone.

...Hard.

"Ouch! Jesus Christ! Watch where you are going!" Liz hissed, scrambling to pick up all her books.

"I'm...sorry"

Liz looked up. The boy she had crashed into was extraordinary. He had phosphorus glowing skin and crinkly dark hair. His eyes were large, and a startling aquamarine.

"That is...okay. I'm Liz."

"Elizabeth," the boy smiled, trying the name "I'm Dagbert."

"I-Am-Liz." she said through gritted teeth.

"Elizabeth. Yes" Dagbert smiled.

"Liz!"

"Alright, I get it already. Elizabeth!"

"My name is NOT Elizabeth."

"Then what?" Dagbert asked, "Tess? Lisa?"

"LIZ!"

"That's what I said, E_liz_abeth!"

"I HOPE THAT RAVENOUS CARNIVOROUS PLANT GHOSTS FEAST ON YOUR SOUL! GO AWAY!"

And so Liz stormed away, in search of her next class. Dagbert frowned, new endowed were always so cryptic

* * *

Gabriel Silk sat outside the door to the music tower. His piano lesson wasn't scheduled for another ten minutes, but Mr. Carp was having blood sugar issues and dismissed the class early so he could go and get a jellybean or two.

"Hello" a chirrupy voice interrupted his thoughts "I'm Allegra Smith."

"Hello" Gabriel said cautiously "I'm Gabriel Silk."

The girl had long blonde hair and bright green eyes, she smiled widely and sat down next to him.

"We're going to be doing piano together. Isn't that cosy?" she leaned forward.

"Uhhh..."

"Allegra!" a voice broke the spell "It looks like we're all going to be doing music together"

"Hello!" Gabriel said, mostly out of relief, as Allegra had gotten rather close "I am Gabriel."

"Harry," the boy said smoothly "It's very good to meet you Gabriel."

Gabriel didn't know why, but the boy called Harry Smith sent a chill up his spine. He also didn't know why Allegra was glaring at said boy or why the two would viciously compete for the rest of the term.

* * *

Hera cursed under her breath.

This was not at all like her. Usually she left all vulgar language and disorganisation to her twin who took up such sisterly duties with relish.

"How can I not have a pencil?" She muttered to herself "I always have a pencil, I always have _two_ pencils. Where have they all gone," Hera stopped her muttering as she pulled a purple, feathery pen out of her pencil case. The only person who would own that type of pen was of course, "Liz!"

Now how was she supposed to sketch that vase of flowers without a pencil? Glancing around, Hera saw that everyone was already sketching. Steeling her courage she leaned over to the girl next to her.

"Uh...Hey, Emma isn't it? Do you have a pencil I can borrow? My douchebag sister stole mine."

The girl smiled "Yeah sure. You're part of the new Smith family aren't you?"

"Yep, but my Smith blood is from my mum. I am, most simply put, Hera Lennox."

"Ah. Pleased to meet you Hera."

"Pleased to meet you, Emma. Are you one of the endowed?"

"Umm, yeah. I can...turn into a bird, what about you?"

Hera's eyes widened the slightest "Well that's a fantastic endowment. Mine, like the rest of my family, is completely useless. I can make leaves fall off trees. Like I said completely useless."

Emma giggled "It is a bit. What about the rest of your family?"

"Well Liz, my twin, can..."

"Miss. Tolly, Miss. Lennox. I am going assume that you have finished your work. You may come up and show me your sketches," The girls conversation was interrupted by their art teacher.

"Ah...we're not quite finished, sir" Emma said, picking up her pencil again.

"Well please, less chatter."

"Yes, sir" Emma began to sketch again but only after flashing Hera a quick grin.

* * *

The rest of the day passed for the rest of the Smiths in the same fashion as any first day of school would, with many comments on 'I don't know what happened to my holidays'

The members of the school had accepted the Smiths with some scepticism, as the children bounded around the old building with reckless abandon. Most of the endowed had been extremely interested in the new kids with much curiosity about their endowments.

Homework for the endowed was being held in the Red King's room, as always. But tonight the usual round table had been removed and in it's space was a massive oblong table. The reason for this new seating arrangement was because the old table would not have seated all the endowed.

Liz, Hera, Lane, Lucien and Harry were sitting on one side and Jasmine, Quin, Fred, Gabby and Allegra were sitting on the other. Allegra was glaring daggers at Harry, for some reason none of her family could figure.

The remaining endowed fitted themselves into this new seating arrangement as best they could and eagerly awaited the introductions. They were not disappointed, for when Manfred 'Sir' Bloor entered the room he paced in front of the table.

"New students! Stand up, say your name, endowment and sit down."

"Liz. I make plants eat things...usually fish-"

"Hera. I can make leaves fall off trees.-"

"Lane. I can detect grammatical errors in any piece of writing-"

"Harry. I can speak in helium-"

"Fred, I am able to stop fans spinning-"

"I am Gabrielle but I prefer Gabby-"

"Allegra, my endowment is to make pink rubber ducks appear-"

There was a series of giggles at Allegra's endowment, Manfred glared at Gabby for not saying her endowment.

"Lucien. I can...err...glow in the dark."

There was a series of 'awesomes' muttered around the room as all eyes turned to Quin and Jas who didn't stand up, or make any move to introduce themselves. They were peering over a stick-figure drawing that Jasmine had made during math.

"Jasmine can control like particles of dust or something and Quin does something with clocks." Lane said for her cousins.

Manfred nodded curtly "Well what are you all waiting for? You have homework to do."

All children got to work with much muttering about 'It's first day of school. There is way too much homework!'

Lane was having hard time getting Liz to actually do her homework. Liz seemed far more interested in drawing caricatures of Manfred in her margins.

"No, no, no Liz. This is trigonometry NOT Pythagoras' Theorem. Don't you remember? Sine, Cosine, Tangent?"

"Huh. No. What is this trigonometry that you speak of?" Liz glanced down at her math book, glaring at the triangles "Wait, I remember. Soh Cah Toa?

"That's it!" said Lane encouragingly, "You spelt trigonometry wrong."

"I assume that all this noise is due to the fact that you are all finished," Manfred sneered "If you are not finished, as I am gathering Miss. Smith is not, you shouldn't be talking." he glared at the entire Smith family, the various Miss. Smiths glaring back at him with equal contempt.

"But Sir." Said Lucien, his voice brimming with innocence. "They are just helping each other with their homework."

Manfred seemed to melt a bit as Lucien's gold eyes bore into him. "Very well but keep the noise to a minimum."

"Of course, sir."

Across the table Jasmine raised an eyebrow at her twin and then went back to her history homework the smallest smile on her face, "That was a big mistake, Manfred Bloor... now I know your weakness..."

"Lucien... Mr. Smith," Manfred asked haltingly, "I would like to speak to you after homework, if you would remain behind."

This time Jasmine was not the only one to notice something with Quin sneaking a quick glance at Lucien, her eyes possessing an all-knowing look.

"Of course, sir." Lucien replied.

"Of course sir," Jasmine muttered under her breath "I'll stay after class sir. Do you like my brother sir? I think you do, Sir..."

"Miss. Smith do you have something to say?"

"No, sir, of course **not **sir."

"Then please keep your mutterings to yourself."

The rest of the 2 hours passed in silence.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**The Smith Family**

The morning run displayed a varied level of effort among the students of Bloor's Academy. Some dragged their feet at a glacial pace as they chatted with the people alongside them, others embraced the opportunity to compete in an already challenging environment, and sprinted ahead, determined to be the best at something.

This was the Smith's third morning run since arriving at Bloor's and Jasmine was unimpressed by this try-hard attitude. She spied one of the endowed, Lysander, if she recalled, sprinting ahead of everyone else. Show off. Jas increased her pace.

"Jas... stop... running..." Quin puffed, "I hate you."

"I'll see you later," Jas called over her shoulder, before dashing ahead, neck and neck with Lysander.

"Want to race, O champion?" Jas asked, neither of them had slowed.

Lysander glanced over, smiling a wide, warm smile.

"You're on."

The two moved further and further into the distance, until Quin was all but a speck in the background.

"You're... not... going... to win..." Jas breathed, "I won't let you!"

Alas, Lysander won. If only by a millimetre.

"I'm Lysander Sage," he smiled.

""I'm... Jasmine," Jas gasped for breath, "Jas... Smith."

"We met on Monday night, sort of," Lysander recalled, now completely recovered, "didn't we?"

"Sort of," Jas agreed, "My collective family can upstage me at times."

"I hardly believe that," Lysander said, "Though they do appear to be a mad bunch."

"Peas in a pod," Jas shrugged, "we're all completely psychotic."

"Nice to know."

"It was nice meeting you," Jas nodded, hearing the bell, "But I'd better go."

* * *

"Drama-Rama!" Quin shouted excitedly, 60s high hair bouncing along with her.

"Drama-Llama" Jasmine added, skipping hyperactively around the Drama room. The two overexcited girls linked hands and started to spin around the space, breathless from laughter.

"I see you've made yourselves at home" Lucien smiled, amused, "You'll throw up if you keep on spinning like that"

"S-Shut up, Lucien!" The girls giggled.

"What is this?" Manfred demanded, appearing suddenly from behind a door "You two! Stop that this minute! I cannot abide – oh, Lucien. Are you well?" his tone changed, becoming polite and eager in the Smith boy's presence.

"Quite well, sir" Lucien gave him a charming smile. Jasmine and Quin stopped spinning and stared at the two, faces lit up with mischief.

"Yes...well. That is nice." Manfred tried to recover, giving Jasmine and Quin a stern nod before continuing "Miss. Marlowe is unwell. I will be taking over this class" he glared at the other students, who sank in their seats, not as bold as Jasmine and Quin, "and Asa will be assisting me, for extra credit, should he flunk out again"

A boy with bright red hair grunted from the corner, arms crossed and a snarl on his lips. Everyone exchanged looks – Drama suddenly seemed much less exciting.

"Everyone stand in a line," Manfred said stiffly, trying to look everywhere but at Lucien.

"Take that ridiculous clip out of your hair! Who do you think you are?" Asa snapped at a small, blonde girl, who teared up at being addressed so.

"Who do you think you are!" Quin immediately snapped at Asa.

"Don't you talk sassy to me!" Asa rounded on her, smirking "Or you'll be very sorry."

"Oooh!" Quin taunted "I'm dead scared. Flunkster".

"Freak." Asa shot back.

"Jerk."

"Psycho."

"You're actually sort of cute."

"Thanks," Asa grinned, and then proceeded to walk down the line, telling off another blonde child.

"What?" Quin whispered to Jasmine "Lucien got Manfred. I figured I'd better stake a claim"

Jasmine's amusement was evident in the way her eyebrows quirked before she turned back to staring dead ahead while Manfred continued with his inspection.

* * *

"Fan on, fan off."

Fred Smith was sitting in his Geography class, blankly staring at the map of Asia which was hanging over the whiteboard, the teacher's lecture going in one ear and out the other. He had occupied most of his day staring at the back of Gabby's head, as she always seemed to be siting in-front of him but that had started to get boring after four lessons. He was considered the strange child in his family, which might seem hypocritical but it was true. He didn't have a particular love for anything like his other relatives, he didn't throw himself, body and soul, into any activity put before him and he did not like school. Not in the slightest.

"Fred!" Gabby hissed, turning around her seat, "Stop it now! You're going to get in trouble."

"Whatever. Fan on."

Fred's indiscreet use of his endowment often got him in trouble at all of his past school, not that he cared, it was his chief amusement when he got sick of staring at heads. Fred's endowment was one that stood up to the ridiculous standards that his family harboured, he could turn fans on and off – it was useful during the summer but usually served as an annoyance.

As it was right now.

It was rather difficult for Mr. Logan to point out the major geographical features of Asia while the fans kept coming on and then cutting off.

"Fan off."

"Mr. Smith!"

"What?" He asked, rather insolently.

"Do not take that tone with me, young man, outside! Now!"

Fred gathered up his books, mumbling quietly to himself. As he passed Gabby she whispered, "I told you so."

Just before he exited the room he turned and faced the class, "Fan on!"

The fan instantly went to maximum speed, Fred quickly shut the door. Inside Mr. Logan desperately tried to turn the fans off but to no avail, they were stuck.

* * *

Once again the endowed sat in the Red King's room. Everyone was seated in the same spot as the previous nights as the various Smith children had been somewhat scary when it came to seating arrangements – each demanding what they called their 'traditional' seats, despite the fact that they had not been at the school for any more than 3 days.

Lane was listening to Quin discourse on the evils of sharks while diligently working on her math homework – something she enjoyed because she didn't have to worry about grammar but she was finding this harder and harder because someone in the room was making an absolute bundle of their English homework.

And finally she snapped.

Nobody answered the girl but her head tilted to the side and she closed her eyes. "Absolutely horrid grammar." she muttered, "And spelling. Sensibility is spelt S-E-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y."

Jasmine looked up from her history book and Quin stopped her rant, their expressions somewhat amused. Quin whispered something to her cousin and then they went back to their work. Quiet chatter filled the room, with all the children moving past Lane's unseemly outburst.

"Tancred Torsson!" Lane snarled, "Can you please stop destroying the English language?"

"Look!" Tancred threw his pen down "If I throw a stick will you leave?"

Utter silence descended.

"Okay, _fine. _I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter!"

Tancred glared, "You and your weird family are validating my inherent dislike of strangers."

"Whatever. Build a bridge and get over it."

"I am_ visualising_ duct tape over your mouth."

Lane's eyes narrowed as she tossed her hair over one shoulder, "You know, it _sounds _like English but I cannot understand a word of it."

"I'm trying to imagine-"

"QUIET!" Manfred attempted to gain some control over the situation as, by this time, the whole room was watching the verbal match with great interest.

"-you with a personality." Tancred continued.

"Oh, Thank-you so very much." Lane gushed, "We are all so refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view."

"Oh! And your cry-baby, whiney-butt opinion would be?"

Lane smiled sweetly, "That your day is a total waste of make-up."

"Miss. Smith, Mr. Torsson!" Manfred barked, "Detention!"

Lane's smiled disappeared, she had not been expecting this and from across the room Tancred was smirking widely at her.

* * *

Charlie crept into the kitchen, desperately looking for something to eat. Tonight's dinner had been a disgusting combination of undercooked sausage and broccolini – the only thing on earth more disgusting than broccoli. He needed something more substantial. He rounded a corner and ran straight into someone – someone with food. Charlie fumbled for the light and when it flickered into existence he found himself face to face with a girl with short, bouncy brown hair and crumbs on her cloak.

"I'm sorry! I needed cake, okay?" she cried, clutching her plate of chocolate cake to her chest, "I cannot take this crap they feed us!"

"I know what you mean. I'm Charlie. Charlie Bone."

"Gabby Smith."

"Halve it with me?"

Gabby looked down at her cake "Well...alright. I suppose we can always go back and get more if we're still hungry."

* * *

_Late update sorry._

_ Exams have me frazzled._

_ Or had me frazzled. They are finished now._

_Kinda short chapter as well. Oh well._

_Tbc..._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**The Smith Family**

Once again the Bloor family was gathered around their dining room table. The Smith children were at the end of the their first week at the Academy and Ezekiel's plan was already in motion.

"We resurrected the Queen by mistake but now with the excess power of the Smith children, our venerable ancestor may yet be brought back to life."

"We're trying to bring Borlath to life? It didn't work the first time!" Manfred objected.

"Borlath was the first of the Red King's children, he thrived on magic. The current children are all descendants of the King and this magic is inherent in all of them." Ezekiel said, his bony hands gripping the sides of his wheelchair, "All we need to do is ensure that enough magical energy is present inside the ruin when the height of the full moon coincides with Borlath's death! Which is this very year!"

Manfred shook his head, "And that is what is going to bring Borlath back to life?"

"Why do you think I went to the trouble of getting the Smith family here? For the pleasure of their company? Because I care about their stupid, pathetic endowments? No! Because they're all endowed and we can use their endowments to raise Borlath!"

Harold nodded, "Yes, it makes sense now. But the ruin game is played in departments, the endowed will be spread out over three nights."

"We shall hold another! A fourth ruin game for the endowed only and it will be held on the full moon!"

"But why?" Manfred asked, "Why do we want to bring Borlath back?"

"Because he's our ancestor boy!" Ezekiel snapped, "And he will help us win against the others once and for all!"

Manfred didn't reply but his eyes showed that he had misgivings about this plan.

"Harold!" Ezekiel turned to his grandson, "You will arrange all of this!"

Dr. Bloor sighed, he was now long resigned to his grandfather's plans. He would carry them out regardless of their absurdity.

* * *

Lane paced around in an incredibly bad mood. It was Friday afternoon and everyone in the castle had packed for the weekend and left... everyone but her.

Well almost everyone.

She had been dreading the weekend ever since she had been given her detention on Wednesday night as she was not only unable to go home and make pizza with her family but she had to spend the better part of the weekend at school with her silly younger brother and the boy who, she called, her worst enemy. Tancred was very much aware of just how much he annoyed Lane, he had been testing her patience all week but he had decided to start the weekend off with a bang.

Quite literally.

Lane was muttering wildly to herself with a storm bust over her head, shattering a window and sending her flying to the floor. She pulled herself up with the help of a curtain and turned to look down the hall where Tancred stood grinning like a cheshire cat.

"TANCRED TORSSON!" She shrieked as rain poured down on her head, "I'm going to get you!"

"Oooh, what you gonna do? Correct my grammar?"

"NO! I'M GOING TO CARVE OUT YOUR INSIDES WITH LOVELY SHARD OF GLASS!" Lane picked up a piece of the shattered window and advanced towards Tancred, grinning madly. Tancred took one look at the maniacal look on Lane's face before making his escape through a nearby classroom. Lane swore to herself and marched down the hall in the opposite direction, wringing out her hair, as she went to her dormitory to change out of her soaking clothes. Tancred Torsson would pay.

* * *

Dinner was the usual disgusting fare, leaving Fred muttering about homemade pizzas and Lane glaring at Tancred who was seeming very pleased with himself. What he didn't know was that Lane was already planning her revenge, she wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do but she knew it would be something fairly spectacular. The three were lingering over their dinners, no one really wanting to touch the green, possibly the mutant cousin of lettuce, concoction on the side of the plate.

"Hurry up with dinner!" Manfred snapped at them.

"Yes sir, Captain Tight-pants, sir." Fred muttered quietly and Lane hit him over the back of the head.

"That's it," Manfred finally lost his inconsiderable patience, "You are to go to the Red King's room right now and commence your homework, dinner is over!"

"But I'm not finished." Fred whined.

"Shut-up, moron." Lane said, pulling her brother up by the his collar, "You're going to get us into trouble and I want to go home sometime this weekend." She began to haul him out of the hall with Tancred following behind.

"Jeez, Lane." Fred said after he managed to extract himself from her vice-like grip, "Are you menstrual?"

"Fred!" She hit him over the head, a lot harder this time, "What the hell is wrong with you?" She stormed ahead once again muttering to herself, this time about the horrors of siblings.

"Oww..."

Inside the King's room, Lane sat down and began at her French homework, writing furiously as she attempted to ignore Tancred's hideous grammatical errors, most of which he was making on purpose. She was glancing over a test in order to figure out where her errors were, she sighed, noticing that she had gotten 100% of the grammar aspect of the exam right. It seemed that her endowment extended beyond the English language.

"Lan-ey..." Fred said, shuffling down a few seats. "Forgive me." Lane continued working, not even shifting her gaze, "Come on, sis, you know you want to."

"No I don't."

"Pwease? I'll be your bestest-best friend in the whole wide world."

"That only works for Mathilda. Leave me alone."

After homework was finished, Fred and Tancred disappeared with lightning quickness lest they find themselves in Matrons company. Lane, however, took an obscure root back to her dormitory. She took right turns and left turns, went downstairs and upstairs, crawled through narrow passage ways until she found herself outside her room, hair in an extremely dishevelled state.

When she came back to the room after a shower, she saw Fred, sitting crossed legged on her bed, reading a book.

"Fred...what are you reading?" She asked, ringing the water out of her hair.

"Oh, um..." Fred flipped the book over to look at the cover, "Your diary...it was right next to your copy of the Diary of Anne Frank, I thought you more imaginative."

Lane practically flew to the bed, ripped her diary out of Fred's hands and them proceeded to hit him with it. "You read my diary?" She demanded.

"Just a little. You really hate Tancred don't you?"

"GET OUT!" She shrieked, throwing a shoe at him, "GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!"

Fred made a run for the door, attempting to dodge the missiles that Lane threw at him. Once Fred was gone, Lane put her diary into a new hiding place, plaited her hair and pulled out her i-pod and the book that she had to read for English. A delightful little novel called 'Frankenstein', she did not want to read it but she had time on her hands. About halfway through chapter 7, Matron flicked the lights of without a sound, plunging Lane into darkness until she pulled a torch out from under her pillow. The small light alleviated the darkness enough for her to put her book and i-pod away and get under the covers. An hour later, Lane was still awake. The emptiness of the room unnerved her. She had shared a room since she was a toddler either with Indi or one of her cousins, she had adapted to the snores, sleep-walking, dream-talking and all other peculiarities of her family and now in complete silence – she couldn't sleep.

Grabbing her torch again, she put on slippers and her dressing gown and then exited her dorm, moving through the hallways until she ended up outside Fred's room. Even through the closed door she could hear his snores, "Fred." She whispered, shaking his shoulder, "Wake up."

Fred didn't stir, "Fred!" She said louder, "Get up!"

Lane sighed, it appeared that he had inherited their father's 'sleep like a rock' gene. And there was only one way to wake up someone with this condition – She pulled the blankets off him and, sure enough, it worked.

"Christ, Lane! What do you want?"

"Let's explore the ruin!" Lane said, a strange gleam in her eyes, "I can't sleep and I want to do something fun and slightly dangerous."

"It's cold!" He complained, even as he got up, "And dark."

"You have shoes, and a torch."

"Really cold!"

"Wear a jumper you baby, hurry up."

"I really hate you." He muttered, tossing her the torch and pulling an awful green and orange jumper on.

"That's really a horrible jumper," Lane commented as they tip-toed their way out of the castle, "Why don't you get rid of it?"

"Because I like it...We should probably sneak out a side door, I don't imagine we'll have much luck opening the front."

The two found a small door that led outside. The air was freezing and the grounds were barely illuminated by the dim moonlight, yet they could still see the ruin, grey and ominous. There was a small light coming from a room high above them in the castle.

"That's probably Manny's room." Fred whispered, "We should try not to be seen, maybe cover the torches with our hands."

"Manny? Oh, you mean Manfred. Sure, I'd hate to think what he'd do to us if we got caught."

"He'd probably eat us." Fred muttered.

They jogged across the oval, occasionally stumbling over a rock or tree root. At one point Fred stepped into the soggy remains of what looked like a mandarin. Both arrived at the wall out of breath, the light in Manfred's room twinkled at them like a faraway star.

"You go in first."

"Me? This was _your _idea!"

As the two quarrelled over who would enter the ruin first, they failed to noticed that there was a dim red light coming from deep within the ruin. What they did notice were brilliant lines of white fire racing towards them.

"Maybe we should leave this for another time..." Fred suggested to his sister, who was shining her torch directly at the shape, attempting to do who knows what.

"Good idea."

The two took off to the school without further comment.

_Tbc..._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**The Smith Family**

Hera Lennox was one among hundreds of students suffering from Mondayitis. It was already lunchtime and everything that had been said to her today had gone in one ear and out the other.

She was currently being dragged to the music canteen by Liz who had decided that she was bored with green capes and wanted to see some new people. Hera wished that she could put her foot down and say no to this crazy idea but Liz was blabbering at a hundred miles an hour and there wasn't room for another word.

"Now...I'm not sure how this is going to work. I suppose we should just walk in like we belong here."

They were halted at the entrance to the music canteen by a prefect and Liz stopped, glared and then held up her hand, "Hey, back off, we're the Smiths." and then proceeded to barge straight past, dragging her reluctant twin behind her.

"HARRY!" Liz yelled over the noise and was waved at by their cousin who was also seated with Allegra and Fred. Allegra was _still _glaring at Harry and Hera wondered what that was about.

The two seated themselves with their cousins and Liz launched into an elaborate story about her daring plan which got them past the guards. Hera picked at her food, felt cheated that the music food tasted better than the art canteen's, and re-zoned out. It was a short time later that Liz disappeared to get more food and someone slipped into her vacated seat. Hera lifted her head to see Emma Tolly.

"You escaped too?" Emma asked.

"Liz has issues with authority, she felt the need to break the rule that says that Art people eat in the Art canteen."

"I came to chat with Charlie. Have you met him yet?"

"Charlie Bone? No...Gabby has, apparently they had a midnight feast together."

"I heard. She and Charlie have been talking about it all lunch."

"Are none of my family able to abide by the rules?" Hera demanded, as she glared across the cafeteria at Gabby who looked up and waved at her cousin, smiling widely.

"It would appear not."

Hera continued to watch Gabby chatter away with Charlie for a moment more before turning her attention back to Emma. The pair were soon happily chatting about upcoming assignments and plans for the all too distant weekend.

"I'll be at home." Hera said, "Lucien and I will do homework together, Addie will probably attack someone, Jasmine and Quin will do _something..._ just another weekend."

Emma nodded, briefly wondering what it was like to have a large family, "Why don't you come to the Pets Cafe?" she asked, "We usually meet there in the morning on Saturday."

"Really?...Well, that sounds interesting. The pets cafe?"

"Yeah, you kinda have to have a pet to get in but if you don't Gabriel Silk always has plenty of Gerbils."

"I have fish...but I'm sure Mama would lend me one of her kitty-cats, though you know I'll probably have like half of my family in tow and surely they count as a menagerie of sorts."

Emma giggled, "Nah, that's fine, as long as you're there." .

At that moment someone let out an ear splitting shriek of frustration and all eyes turned to Liz who was precariously balancing a tray piled with food on one hand while she stared Dagbert Endless down.

"My name, is **not **Elizabeth, you stupid, pathetic, moronic loser!"

It was at that moment that Mr. Paltry entered the canteen and beheld the sight of Liz Smith harassing a wide-eyed Dagbert Endless. All the teachers had been warned about the trouble making capacities of the Smith children and the fact that Liz wasn't even in music made it all the worse.

"MISS. SMITH!" He roared.

Liz stopped her tirade, "What?" she demanded, quite rudely.

Without any further words Paltry dragged Liz out of the canteen by her cape but not before she yelled out a final insult.

"I hope you are dragged into the woods, savagely beaten and left for dead!"

"Oh god." Hera placed her head in her hands, "Oh god, oh god, oh god."

* * *

The story of the lunchtime incident spread through the school like wild fire and despite receiving two weekends of detention, Liz carried herself like she owned the place. This was, Lane privately thought, a good thing. Liz's dramatics earlier had served to hide what she had been planning for the better part of the day.

Revenge is not only sweet but, when done Smith style, very satisfying.

It was very dark, the lights had long been turned out by Matron and all the students of Bloors Academy had turned in for the night. All except two. Lane had enlisted Jasmine as her partner in crime for this particular escapade, mainly because of her utter disregard for rules but also because of her cruelly inventive mind.

"This is going to have to be quick." Lane hissed,

"That's what she said." Jasmine smirked, "Yeah, alright, I know." She pulled a permanent marker out of one jacket pocket and duct tape out of the other, "Let's get to work."

As quickly as they could the two girls entered into the dorm room, careful not to trip over the various items left on the floor and went to Tancred Torsson's bedside. Stifling a giggle, Jasmine carefully drew a moustache on Tancred's face. Lane bit her lip and took the marker off Jasmine so that she could exercise her artistic ability. While Lane was busy drawing on Tancred's face, Jasmine carefully wrapped the duct tape around him and the bed. She was almost shaking with pent up laughter.

"Okay!" Lane whispered, "I'm finished! Let's go!"

Jas nodded and left the duct tape secured to the bed, "Alright but two more things."

She reached into Tancred's cupboard and pulled out his toothbrush, she rushed outside to the closest bathroom, Lane cautiously following behind. She dunked the toothbrush into a toilet bowl and swirled it around for good measure. Lane clamped a hand over her mouth to stop a very loud laugh.

Jas smirked, "Now, next time he does something to you, just think about his toothbrush, that he uses. Every single day."

She crept back into the room and replaced the toothbrush. Then just before she left the room for good, she made a curious gesture with her hands and all the dust in the room came swirling up and towards her. She directed the dust into Tancred's still open wardrobe and then closed the doors. "Okay, all good."

Lane rushed down the hall to an uninhabited area where she let loose peals of laughter. Jasmine followed at a more leisurely pace, whistling a nameless tune. She rounded a corner and ran into Lysander Sage, she squinted at him in the darkness before smiling.

"Oh, hey running buddy! Whatcha doing?"

He shrugged, "I could ask you the same thing."

She slipped her hands into her pockets, "I was just dunking your best friend's toothbrush into a toilet. Tell him if you wish but, please, just wait until he has brushed his teeth once."

Lysander didn't look surprised, "For Lane?" He guessed, "They don't seem to get along well."

"Lane hates him." Jasmine confirmed, "So I told you what I've been doing even though I asked first..."

"Couldn't sleep. Place feels weird... weirder than usual."

"Oh... I hadn't really noticed." Jas looked around and her eyes snapped to the ceiling when she heard a loud creak, "Anyway...I'd better be going, see you round, Sage."

"See ya, Smith."

_Tbc..._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**The Smith Family**

"Laaaa-ne!"

Lane ran down the corridor, fleeing from Jasmine and Quin. Perhaps agreeing to play hide and seek with her cousins had not been the best idea for avoiding trouble, but Lane could not risk being considered 'un-game'. They would hold it against her for forever and a day.

The two seekers were cheating.

Lane knew this because there was absolutely no way the two of them would have caught up to her so quickly if they had counted to the promised 100. But that was Jas and Quin for you. Hearing the two closing in on her, Lane wrenched open the nearest door and ducked through it. The room she had entered was pitch black and she fumbled around for a light switch but was stopped when a voice rang out.

"Who's there?"

"Lane. Who are you?"

She didn't need an answer because at that moment her hand closed on a switch and the light burst into life. She was in a storage closet filled with tall shelves, all of them stacked high with boxes containing an odd assortment of items, and sitting against a wall was Tancred Torsson.

"Oh, great, I was so hoping to never see you again." Lane put her back to the door as she slid to the floor.

"Look who it is, Grammar Girl."

"Go to hell."

"Someone is in a bad mood."

"Shut up!" she snapped, pressing her ear to the door. She could hear high pitched giggling as her cousins raced through the corridor.

"And you are hiding from?"

"Must you?" Lane asked, running her fingers through her hair as a breeze attempted to pull her hair-clips out. "And I'm hiding from Jasmine and Quin, so please attempt to be quiet."

Tancred's eyes flashed wickedly and he opened his mouth, issuing a shout. Lane's hand clamped down on his mouth but not before loud, clomping footsteps could be heard coming back down the hall.

"Damn. I hope you get eaten by a mad goat! Go to hell!" Lane hissed, as she scrambled to push a shelf against the door. She knew it would be considered by her cousins to be cheating but she didn't care, this game was about winning regardless of the rules.

Tancred smiled in amusement "Do you want some help?"

"No, I don't want help, you rat-butt."

Tancred rocked back on his heels "Rat-butt?" he burst into laughter and then, waving a hand, sent a burst of wind to slam the shelf against the door.

Lane glared at him "I could have done it by myself, I'm perfectly capable you know. I can-"

Tancred placed his hand over her mouth "Shhh."

Outside the storage room a third voice had joined the jabbering of Quin and Jasmine.

"Have you seen Tancred?" the voice was asking.

"No, Tracy, we haven't. Have you seen Lane?" Jasmine asked.

"No, I'm sorry. If you see Tancred can you let me know?"

"Sure."

The handle of the door turned and a grunt could be heard as Quin and Jasmine pushed against it with all their non-existent might.

"Dust." Jasmine muttered "I'll build a dust monster. Lane! We know you're in there!"

Lane glanced about, trying to find another exit and her eyes fastened on another door. "I need to get out." she hissed "They can't find me!"

She wrenched open the door and rushed out, slamming it behind her. She found herself in the art corridor and made a beeline for the nearest art room, she grabbed for the door handle and tried to wrench it open but to no avail.

"That one is always locked." Tancred said behind her, "You'll have to go to the ones down the other end."

"Why are you following me?" Lane demanded, going to the room at the end of the hall and entering it, trying to close the door before Tancred got through. He shoved himself into the room, pushing the door and Lane backwards.

"You're fun to follow around. No one else does anything remotely interesting at this school and besides you hate me...what reason more do I need?"

"Whatever, just be quiet." She snapped as she ducked into another supply closet, this time one that locked properly from the inside. "Ah damn, no light."

"Ooooh...scary." Tancred mocked from somewhere within the inky blackness, it wasn't too far away, this closet was smaller than the last.

"Shut up."

Quin and Jasmine could be heard prowling through the room, opening and closing doors and eventually leaving to search the other nearby rooms.

"Are you going to go now?" Tancred asked.

"Psh, no. They'll be close by, sometimes I think their endowments have something to do with hide and seek, they're too good at it for their own good."

"Great. Quality time with grammar girl."

"You are free to leave." Lane snapped, "Though if you tell Quin and Jas I'll kill you very slowly."

"I think I'm fine right here."

"Why don't you want to leave?" She asked suspiciously, "You're hiding too!"

Tancred sighed, "Yes, fine. I'm hiding from Tracy."

"Your girlfriend?"

"Uh huh..."

They sat in silence for a while, Lane listening out for Jas and Quin who had come back through the art room a few times.

"Why do you have to be so upitty about grammar anyway?" Tancred burst out.

"You really want to know?" Lane asked, "You might not like what I say."

"Does what I think matter to you?...cause if it does it means we have some sort of friendly relationship thing."

"Fine. Every time I read or rather hear a poorly written piece of anything, I want to go stomp on the offending person's head. See how they like it. If people can't communicate without typos and misspellings they look like morons and I feel I should treat them as such."

"Umm...nice?"

"I think that every computer and writing utensil should be equipped with a perfect grammar detector and whenever someone types or writes something incomprehensible or stupid, a massive electric shock would be delivered. You'd get one chance to fix all mistakes and then..._zappo."_

"Wow. That's quite an idea."

"Yeah, I haven't had a chance to commission such a device but one day I will and then people with no idea about grammar will be sorry."

"Ah...the children of the future will be so grateful to you."

"So will your English teacher."

The two lapsed back into silence, "Why are you hiding from your girlfriend?"

"Sort-of-girlfriend." Tancred corrected, "I don't know what we are."

"Well that's the best sort of relationship." She said sarcastically, "What do you mean you don't know?"

"We have our moments but she just wants to _talk_ and not just about anything, about makeup and clothes and boys! Why the boys? Does she think I'm her gay friend?"

Lane laughed, "I can't believe we're talking about this stuff. Do you really expect me to give you advice? I couldn't tell you why Tracy wants to talk about other boys with you...who does she talk about?"

"Who doesn't she talk about! Ooh, Asa, Oh, Manfred, Lyyysander! Gabriel Silk!" he mimicked Tracy's whiney voice, "Dagbert and, gee, some of those new Smith boys are fine, Oh yes, I like that!...jeez, I hate her sometimes."

She giggled at his impersonation of Tracy, "Well why don't you break up with her?"

"Don't you think I haven't tried?"

Lane shrugged, though in the darkness Tancred couldn't see, "I don't know anything about you...nor do I really want to."

"That's harsh."

"You care?"

"No." Tancred was a bit too quick to respond.

"Whatever...I wonder where Quin and Jas are..."

"Do you want go and look?"

Lane briefly weighed the pros and cons of leaving the closet. Quin and Jas might have given up and gone to annoy someone else or they could be still searching and about to burst into the room. They could even be sitting just outside the door though she didn't think that was very likely.

"Might as well risk it. If they've given up they won't bother to tell me, so I'd just be sitting here..."

Lane reached up, unlocked the door and she inched out of the closet, Tancred close behind her. The room was clear and she gave a sigh of relief but then Jasmine and Quin came bounding out from under a table grinning and howling madly.

"Ah ha! We knew you were in there!" Quin shouted exuberantly, "We could hear you and someone else talking...Oooh, you were in there with _Tancred, _I knew that hatred thing you guys had going was just a coverup!"

Jasmine giggled and placed a hand over her eyes tragically, "I'm hurt that you didn't tell me."

"Tell you what?" Lane demanded, "I was hiding from you and Tancred followed me here!"

"So you do like her!" Quin exclaimed, turning to Tancred, "I thought so, I knew it!. Lucien told me I was being silly but I knew it, I knew, I knew it!"

"Shut up!" Lane shouted, "He was hiding from Tracy!"

"Yeeaah...She was looking for you. She wanted to co-ordinate outfits." Jasmine glanced at Tancred, "Why on earth would you be hiding from your girlfriend?"

"It's complicated...I uhh...I'm going to go. See you round, grammar girl." Tancred almost bolted from the room.

"Soooo...Laney, tell us all about you and dear Tancred."

Lane sighed, this was obviously going to be far more awful than she had first anticipated.

* * *

_Tbc..._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N – Thank-you to everyone who reviewed so far, I'm glad you're all enjoying the story, I'm sorry I haven't replied to you all but I'm lazy like that. Remembering to update on Mondays is more than enough for my busy mind._

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISHLÉ! I HOPE THE DAY IS FANTASTICLY FANTASTIC!**_

**Chapter Eight**

**The Smith Family**

Now, it was an irreversible fact of life that due to the number of children the Smith family contained it was more or less impossible for a month to pass without a birthday. Bloors Academy quickly discovered this.

And it was simply unfortunate for them that, the current month, October, was Quin's month.

In her dorm, Quin was unwrapping presents while her dorm-mates hurried about getting ready, stepping over and swerving around the various items that littered the floor.

"Today is going to be _sick_."

"That sounds worrying," Jasmine commented, warily watching Quin out of the corner of her eye.

"Be worried. I am going to mess this school up the _shiznit_!"

"The... shiznit?"

"I am experimenting with my language," Quin explained, "I wanna have a jaunty birthday voice by the time I get downstairs for breakfast."

"Okay. Rule that one out."

"Your feedback is invaluable. I think I'll go with a Galadriel inspired lilt. Now, what hat shall I wear? Scarlet cowboy or purple fedora?"

"Definitely the purple fedora, way more classy."

Quin quickly assembled her birthday outfit and then dragged Jasmine downstairs, eager for the birthday madness to begin.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUIN!"

"Agh! Desist, monsters! My _bones_!"

The Smith family birthday hug was painful tradition. It involved being tacked by all your cousins and siblings simultaneously, under the guise of well-wishing.

"Feel older?" Fred asked.

"Feel broke? If you don't my present wasn't expensive enough. Gimme." Quin glanced around maniacally, looking for presents.

"Here, Quinny," Fred sighed, handing over a small parcel to his older cousin, "Happy birthday."

"Thank you, Freddie dear." Quin began tearing the wrapping off her first gift. Blue mushroom shaped hair-clips were revealed, "Ohh... stylish. I'll forgive you for getting cheap bits of plastic 'cause I like the colour."

"Good of you, Quin."

There was expensive tea from Lucien, an ornate tiki mask from Lane, a tub of rainbow ice cream from Gabby (direct from the Bloors kitchens), a set of hefty books including 'How to Avoid Huge Ships' and 'Across Europe on a Kangaroo' from Jas, a scarf with turtles on it from Harry, a caged carnivorous flower from Liz and a tasteful selection of bath soaps from Hera and Allegra.

"I'd say keep it in a pot but it would go walkabout and eat your turtle," Liz advised when handing over a gift.

"I've got an old fish tank," Quin said thoughtfully, "empty it out and it'd be a great exhibit for Ernie."

"Ernie?"

"The flower deserves a name. It eats things."

The passing hours saw Quin trying to sneak her flower into teacher pigeonholes and prefect lockers. Manfred was not amused. Asa was, but he was putting on a good show.

"What is the meaning of this, Frellor?" Manfred glared threateningly. Quin immediately grabbed Lucien.

"It's my birthday," Quin said impertinently, "right, Lucien? You were having fun, weren't you?"

"Yes, Quin," Lucien sighed, and turned to Manfred with big, soulful Lucien-eyes "I am _so_ sorry, Manfred. It's just an exciting day, and we got carried away. _Please_ understand."

"Why..." Manfred was lost for a moment, "why of course, Lucien. I know you're responsible. Perhaps I could have a word, though. Just to talk about the stresses of your duty to your family. I feel we often hold you accountable for their actions."

"Are you _kidding_? He's never had a detention in his life. And you're obviously hot for him-" a hand was then placed over Quin's mouth "Oi! Immwaburthdaygurl!"

"Quin just gets so excited when she's around big kids," Lucien explained.

"Of course, and I understand the circumstance."

"However," Asa said suddenly, "perhaps I should talk to Frellor about her behaviour."

"Its my birthday!" Quin whined, "I don't wanna be in trouble, I want cake, get me cake!"

"Yes, I think a small chat is in order," Manfred agreed tersely.

Asa grabbed Quin by the arm and dragged her away from Manfred and Lucien. Quin quickly lost track of where she was, Bloors Academy was still a rabbit warren of corridors to her.

"You're _mean_," Quin said as Asa lead her along halls, "you're a jerk, you're despicable, you're-"

Asa carelessly tossed a parcel at her.

"You're _pretty_," she grinned, practically devouring the wrapping.

"No problem, Frellor," Asa grinned, leaning back.

"A plushie!" She cried excitedly, "a shark plushie! Aw, that's cool!"

"Saw it and thought of you," Asa shrugged, "what with your fear of shark."

"Huge fear of shark," Quin agreed, "but they're very cool in plushie form. Plus, I can throw darts at it without fear of toothy retribution."

Asa had left before she had finished speaking.

"Well that's just annoying." Quin looked around, surveying her surroundings and trying to pinpoint were exactly she was. She went into the nearest room and saw beds. So she was near the boys dormitories and the seniors by the look of it.

She began to walk back along the corridor they had just come down and found a stairwell which she decided was probably the best bet for finding her way back. Halfway down what seemed to be the never ending stairs, Quin found herself wishing for a slide. Birthdays are not about getting dragged off somewhere by a redheaded werewolf and getting lost, no! They were about cake and presents and the birthday girl!

There was noises coming from a room nearby and Quin decided to investigate. She peered into the room and saw Manfred Bloor so close to Lucien that they might as well be joined together. Lucien said something and Manfred tried to shush him. Quin giggled quietly, some things were worth getting lost for. She couldn't wait to tell Jas all the goss about Lucien and Manfred...how delish. Lucien broke away and Quin ducked into the next room to hide as he went past. She could hear Manfred follow him out into the hall, she inched open the door and saw Manfred staring straight at a whirling column of incandescent light that was practically oozing evilness.

As Quin watched, the bright thing coiled around Manfred before suddenly seeming to go 'into' him. Manfred's limbs jerked strangely and he took off down the hall.

"Strange." Quin muttered before exiting the room and hurrying back down the stairs. Whatever psychotic things Manfred Bloor was up to was nothing compared to a decent Smith party, and she was hoping that her cousins had gone to the trouble to get her an awesome cake (Who was she kidding? Of course they had.)

Downstairs in the Red Kings room, where Quin felt she spent far too much time, everything was assembled. There was no sign of Manfred, not that anyone cared, and the Smiths had gone to great lengths to organise a party, completely ignoring the Branko twins who claimed they wanted to do their homework. Quin walked into the room and stopped short at the sight of the cake and colourful party streamers. "Aww, well aren't you guys the cutest, you organised a party for me!" She acted like it was totally unexpected.

"Jah!" Liz bounded up and down, "Where the hell have you been?

"I got lost! It is hardly my fault. Gimme my cake."

Quin's predicted sugar rush came very quickly and she, Liz, Lane and Jasmine soon descended into singing Shania Twain and Britney Spears songs. Everyone else was simply enjoying the relaxation time. Manfred walked into the room, looking slightly dazed but his eyes narrowed when he saw the party being held. Lucien, who had positioned himself by the door, held out a hand and Manfred stopped and nodded.

The party continued as planned.

Charlie laughed and shook his head, he truly enjoyed the company of the Smiths, they were too outrageous to really comprehend. No one else would have dared do what they had just done, yet they were acting as though it was just part of an ordinary day. Sitting next to him, Gabby was staring into space and he waved a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Gabrielle."

"Bleh, Gabby." She corrected, turning her attention to him briefly, "What do you want?"

"You seem kinda out of it."

"Believe me, my friend, you have not seen me 'out of it'" Her attention drifted away again and Charlie followed her gaze to the Red King's portrait. Like always, he couldn't quite manage to get inside it but this time there was something distinctly strange about it that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"It has changed." She whispered, probably to herself and the Charlie realised it. The portrait had changed, somehow, he had no idea what was different about it but it was.

"It's not just me is it?" Gabby asked, eyes still fixed on the portrait.

"No...I don't think so. Something is definitely different."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**The Smith Family**

The weekend had come and gone again. Liz had caused plenty trouble for Manfred during her detention, though she claimed she had no idea how Ernie II got into his room. And the Pets Cafe, though used to all manner of eccentric visitors and their pets, had not been truly prepared for the Smith family and their assorted idiosyncrasies. Monday had passed in the usual manner, though some had expressed concern about Quin's sudden stalker-like obsession with Asa. All because he had said her pet tortoise, Rock, was cool. Jas had also been in a particularly interesting mood due to her losing the milkshake chugging contest that had been held between herself and Lysander.

Everyone was getting ready for bed, Liz was prancing around in her Batman footie pyjamas singing to herself and was well into the final verse of American Pie when the lights flicked off. Hushed conversations continued until everyone drifted off to sleep. A few hours later Allegra snuck into the senior girl dorms and tried to shake Liz awake, "Liz wake up!"

"Fish...smell funny." she muttered, rolling over.

Allegra sighed and went over to her older sister, who woke with a start as soon as a hand was laid on her.

"Allegra! Crap, you scared me." Jasmine took a deep shuddering breath, being woken abruptly seemed to do something unpleasant to Jas, "What is it?"

"Gabby's sleep walking."

"Aw damn." Jas kicked back the sheets and stood up, "Where is she?"

"In the art cloak room. Fred is watching her."

"Alright, I'm coming. I'll wake up Liz and... Lane. Then we'll be right down."

Allegra laughed quietly, "You're not going to bother with Quin, I see." She tip-toed out of the room.

Jas woke both of her cousins with the time honoured method of ripping the sheets off of them. Lane had woken up well enough, shrugging on her dressing robe before helping Jas to rouse Liz, who stubbornly refused to move.

"Liz! Lizzy!" Jas whispered, "I know you're awake!"

"Elizabeth!" Lane yanked Liz's pillow from under her head, "Get up."

Liz sat up and glared, "Is the sun up?"

"No! Gabby is sleep walking."

"Damn her." Liz muttered, "Why are you standing around? We have to get her back to bed."

The trio made their way downstairs, carefully remaining silent and not walking on the especially creaky stairs.

"Why is my twin not up?" Liz demanded, "This is hugely unfair."

"Hera helped out last time and she needs her sleep. And," Jasmine held up a hand, "Lucien is stressed out, I'm not going to wake him up and you know that Quin is bloody useless in the middle of the night."

Liz sunk into offended silence, occasionally muttering about the unfairness of her cousins. In the main hall Allegra and Fred were cautiously trailing Gabby as she lumbered from place to place, picking up stray items. She was wearing her stripy pyjamas underneath a red velvet cloak she had picked up somewhere.

"Has she smashed anything up?" Jas asked Allegra as they followed Gabby towards the art department.

"Not yet but I figure only a matter of time. This _is _Gabby."

"Yeah... Why don't you go to bed and you too Fred. We'll watch Gabby until she returns to bed."

Fred paused in the act of stifling a yawn, "Awesome. Night all."

"Damn Gabrielle." Liz muttered as they followed Gabby down a corridor lit only by their torches, "I swear to god her endowment is the most annoying of all."

"It isn't her fault that she sleep walks!" Jas quickly defended her sister.

"Yeah, it isn't the sleep walking part I have a problem with. It is the super strength which she gets only when sleep walking that is troubling."

"You have to put up with it." Lane said, rubbing her eyes, "We put up with your evil flowers eating all the good leftovers."

"The flowers need nourishment. It's not my fault your brothers use all the mayonnaise."

Lane glared at her and marched ahead, opening a door before Gabby could bang into it.

"You could have left that closed." Liz said.

"Oh yes. Because the Bloors wouldn't have been suspicious of a Gabby sized hole in the door."

The two continued bickering for a while until they were interrupted by a loud crash. Gabby had gotten a long way ahead of the group and when they found her she was still walking along, despite the fact that she had completley smashed through a solid brick wall into the next classroom.

"Ohhhh crap." Jasmine examined the debris, "How are we going to cover this up?"

There was a loud scraping sound and Jas turned around to see Lane attempting to haul a heavy cabinet towards the hole.

"I'll cover it with this." She explained, "Jas, you and Liz go keep an eye on Gabby, I'll fix this."

"You really aren't that strong you know." Liz said, hanging back to watch her cousin struggle.

"Get lost, Liz." Lane grated out, "It is the middle of the night, I'm tired and this has to be done. I do not need an audience."

"Fine!" Liz tossed her hair over a shoulder and pranced away.

Lane continued to maneuverer the cabinet into position, taking care to keep all the rubble in one area so she could pack it away later. She had just gotten the cabinet over the hole when someone came up behind her and poked her in the ribs. She frowned and turned around. Years of being tormented by siblings and cousins alike, had ensured that being poked or tickled had no effect on her at all.

"Tancred Torsson, I should have bloody known!"

"Well, well, well, Grammar Girl, it's against the rules to be out in the school at night, you should know that." He tugged on a strand of her hair.

"Yes, well," She slapped his hand away, "I have things to do, so if you could kindly go away."

"Whatcha doing?" He asked, following her into the room where the hole was still visible "Whoa... How did that happen?"

"Gabby." She replied shortly, searching for something to use to cover it up. The room was a classroom, not often in use but people would notice if all the furniture got rearranged

"What do you mean Gabby? Like your cousin? She did this?"

"Yes. Shut up." She glanced around and realised it was an old drama room. That made things easier. Every single drama classroom had a plethora of strange items that no one noticed. She found a massive poster advertising the Phantom of the Opera and, after scrounging around, some blue-tack. She then proceeded to stick the poster up over the hole. Even if a drama student did find it they probably wouldn't care.

"How did she do that?" Tancred asked, following Lane back out into the corridor. "Did she like smash through the wall or something?"

"That is exactly what she did." She replied, walking in the direction she had last seen Liz going in.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That is awesome!"

"You would think so." Lane glared at him, looking for more signs of Gabby damage.

"But it is! So what, she has, like, super strength?"

"What, she has, like, super strength?" She mimicked him, "Yes she has super strength but only when she is sleep walking."

"Epic."

"So not."

"Why do you hate me?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

There was silence.

"Marry me."

Lane halted in her tracks and turned around, very slowly, "_What!"_

Tancred smirked, he had successfully pulled her off balance, "Will you marry me?"

"No! Get lost."

"Why?"

"Because I hate you."

"So you do hate me!"

Lane rolled her eyes, exasperated, "If I say yes, will you go away?"

He shrugged, still smirking, this was even more fun than he had anticipated, "Yeah, maybe."

"Fine. Yes, I'll marry you. Now go away."

There was a loud smashing sound and Lane swore. Now there would be in even more mess to clean up, she was going to murder Gabby in the morning. However, the smash hadn't been caused by Gabby and a few corridors away Liz was staring at the shattered remains of a probably priceless vase. "Oops."

She hadn't managed to catch up with Jas and Gabby and had been wandering around the castle, using her footie pyjamas to slide along the floor. Of course, when she had taken a particularly big run up she had lost control and gone careening into a display, shattering the vase.

"That vase was a gift from the Red King to his son, Petrello."

Liz spun around and found herself looking at Dagbert Endless, whose skin seemed to shine with it's own pallid light.

She shrugged, "Whatever."

"Elizabeth, I-"

Her fists clenched, "How many times do I have to tell you? My name is not Elizabeth!"

"Does my calling you Elizabeth truly make you so very angry?"

"Yes it does. _So please _don't call me that. My name is Liz, plain and simple."

"Okay then."

Liz looked at him with wide eyed astonishment, "Really?"

"Yes." He shrugged, "You don't want to be called Elizabeth. Okay."

"Wow. Fabulousity. See ya."

Liz turned and began to continue sliding down the hall when Dagbert spoke again.

"Why don't you like your name? Elizabeth is such a pretty name."

Liz sighed, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Maybe you should." The dark haired boy seemed far more comfortable during the cool of the night.

"Fine." She looked at the shards on the floor, "My daddy is the only one who ever called me that." Dagbert remained silent and Liz looked up at him, "He's dead, okay?"

"Oh... I'm ... I didn't know."

"Yeah, well, now you do. So, please, just drop it." She didn't wait for an answer but slid off down the hall, leaving Dagbert to stare at the shards of the vase in silence.

* * *

The next morning, Liz, Lane and Jas were walking around like zombies. Shuffling from classroom to classroom not caring whether or not they were actually in the right class.

Gabby was in a terrific mood, though she didn't know why.

Just before lunch, Lucien grabbed his twin by the arm and swung her about to face him, "What happened last night?" he murmured into her ear.

"Uh... Gabby was sleep walking."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh."

_Tbc..._

_Keep reviewing!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**The Smith Family**

The classroom was one hated by the majority of students who sat in it. The desks were lined up in neat rows and at each desk sat a member of the seventh form, suffering through their advanced English class. Seated in the back row, Quin slammed her head down on her desk, "Ouch." She muttered, "I am so sick of school!"

Jas laughed as Quin rubbed her head, "Don't you mean hell?"

"Same thing." Quin shoved her books off the desk, "The only reasons for school are brainwashing and extracting as much money from victims as possible."

"Why do they even teach English?" Jas asked, staring blankly at the pages covered with boring poetry, "We speak it, surely that is enough."

"They teach it so that Ms. Newman can win the 'Teacher with the most Boring Teaching Technique' award."

The two lapsed into silence, listening to Liz mutter about the facial proportions of an octopus, none of them even attempting to deconstruct the poem. Quin pulled a feather boa (that she had kept from last drama class) out of her book bag and began pulling it into the individual feathers. Jas took a feather and held it on top of her lip as a blue feather moustache. Quin grinned madly and tried to balance some of the feathers on her forehead, creating an interesting looking mono-brow. Both of them glared sullenly at the feathers as they fell off their faces.

"This is no good." Jas said, picking up a feather before letting it drop back onto the desk, "How are we going to keep the feathers on?"

Quin thought for a moment before pulling a glue stick out of her pencil case and put it on the desk. Jas looked at the glue speculatively before picking it up and gleefully opening the cap.

"Do you want to put it on the feather?"

Quin shook her head, "No. The glue will make the feather yucky. Just put it on my skin."

Jasmine giggled maniacally and carefully applied the glue to Quin's forehead, coating her eyebrows in sticky stuff. She then carefully applied the feathers to Quin's face, giggling all the while. Once Quin had her mono-brow on, Jasmine handed her the glue-stick and allowed the glue to be spread just above her lips. She pressed the feather on, making sure to curl into an elaborate walrus moustache.

"Laaane!" Quin called across the classroom, "Do you have a mirror?"

"Nope!... What the hell have you two done to your faces?"

"Lizzy?" Jas turned around in her seat, "Do _you _have a mirror?"

"Uh. yeah." Liz began rummaging through her pencil case, "I knew this would come in handy!" She pulled out a compact mirror shaped like a cupcake.

Jas flipped it open and burst into laughter upon seeing herself. Quin snatched the mirror off her cousin and also burst into laughter, carefully running her fingers over her mono-brow. They stopped laughing for a moment and tried to act serious as their teacher came over, they didn't have much luck, giggles escaping from tightly pressed lips.

"Girls! What are you doing?"

The pair looked, wide-eyed, at their English teacher, Ms. Newman, who looked less than pleased at what they had been doing.

"Us? We're doing... nothing."

"That is painfully obvious." She tapped Jasmine's book, "Hurry up! I want this work finished."

"Evil." Jas muttered, slowly writing out the first question, blowing a puff of air at the drooping edge of her moustache.

Quin did not work.

She stared at the clock, watching it tick, minute by minute, time seeming to go slower just to make the maths lesson go longer, "Screw this." She muttered, beginning to move her finger in a circular motion. As she did so, the hands of the clock began to spin, before settling five seconds before the bell for the end of day went.

Five seconds passed.

And then ten.

Five minutes passed and then Quin put up her hand, "Excuse me, Ms?"

"What is is Miss. Frellor?"

"Shouldn't the bell have gone by now?"

Newman looked up at the clock, her eyes squinting slightly to make out the numbers on the face.

"Yes, it should have." The foolish teacher didn't bother to check her own watch. If she had, she would have noticed that there was still 20 minutes until the lesson was due to end.

"Well class, the bell should have gone by now. You can all go."

The students hurriedly filed out of the room, no one bothering to tell their teacher that everyone else was still in class. They weren't going to pass up on 20 minutes of freedom.

"You really couldn't take another 20 minutes?" Lane asked, fiddling with the clasp on her book-bag.

"Nope. Poetry is torture."

Jasmine and Lane decided to go have showers, despite it still being the afternoon, they were both desperate for the hot water that was usually denied to them for most of the week. Liz had ambled off to find something suitably interesting to drawn. Quin continued on alone, feeling very pleased with herself. She had just saved not only herself but a whole class from the terrors of poetry.

Things seemed absolutely terrific until she saw Ms. Newman conversing with Dr. Bloor at the end of the corridor. Ms. Newman was gesturing to her watch and Dr. Bloor had his arms folded. Quin's first instinct was to quickly head in the opposite direction but clumsiness was another predominate Smith trait, one that Quin had, sadly, inherited.

She banged her elbow on the wall and let out a loud curse.

The two teachers immediately noticed her. "Miss. Frellor! Come here this instant!" Dr. Bloor commanded.

Quin walked as slowly as she could but soon found herself standing before an annoyed looking Dr. Bloor. "Yes, Sir?"

"There is still 15 minutes left in class time. Would you care to explain why you and the rest of your classmates are roaming the halls?"

Quin shrugged, "Not really."

"Miss. Frellor, I am well aware of what your endowment is. Here we do not allow students to so abuse their endowments. As punishment for your transgression, you will serve detention this week."

Quin rolled her eyes, it had been inevitable, she had to have a detention at some point, "Fair enough."

"If you pull a trick like that again there will be more serious consequences. Am I understood?"

Quin stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't sound insulting or rude. She was just about to respond when the sound of a loud, automated bell filled the hallways.

Quin tilted her head to the side, "Yes Sir." She didn't wait for a response, a fire evacuation wasn't fun at the best of times and she had no desire to be swamped by panicked students. She made a beeline for the nearest stairwell, determined to be out of the building before screaming first formers streamed into the halls. On her way to the oval she was joined by Jasmine whose hair was dripping wet. She had hastily thrown on fresh clothes, her shoe laces untied, "That highly anticipated shower lasted for a grand total of five minutes. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Quin protested, "I was being told off by Dr. Bloor for inappropriate use of my endowment and then the alarm went off. Where is Lane?"

"She decided having a long shower with hot water was worth getting burnt to death."

Quin shrugged, "The water might save her. She could sit in the shower with a fire extinguisher."

The two joined the throng of students heading onto the oval. The teachers were attempting to line the students up in a semblance of order but they couldn't make themselves heard over the shrieks of excitement and panic.

"Lucien!" Jas went running into her brother and wrapped her arms around him, smiling widely, "I am glad you aren't trapped in the castle, doomed to die a horrific death."

"Thank you Jassie, I'm glad I'm not doomed to die a horrific death too."

"I'm sure Manfred would have saved you." Quin muttered.

Lucien ignored her, "What have you two done to your faces?"

Jasmine twirled the damp moustache, she had taken extreme care to make sure that it hadn't fallen off during her shower, "Lucien, what does it _look _like we've done?"

"I can't imagine Ms. Newman was terribly pleased."

"She wasn't," Jas shrugged, bouncing up on her feet, "But what can she do?"

"I wonder what peeved Manfred so monumentally that he set fire to the school." Quin said, standing on her toes, looking for Manfred in the crowd, "His mirror probably cracked when he looked at it."

"It's probably just a drill." Lucien said, "Nothing is going to burn." He scanned the crowd, "What is our sister doing?"

"Huh?" Jas had been following the flight of a butterfly, "Oh Gabby? She appears to be snogging her boyfriend."

"Since when is Charlie Bone her boyfriend?" He demanded, "That display is positively indecent."

"He asked her out on the weekend and this is her way of telling everyone about it."

"Can't she maintain a level of decorum about the whole thing?"

Quin snorted, "Decorum? Gabby probably doesn't know what the word means... I don't really know what the word means."

Lucien shook his head, "She is behaving in a manner that is completely inappropriate. Excuse me." He marched over to his younger sister, fully intent on disciplining her.

"He needs to lighten up." Quin giggled, "Have you seen Liz?"

Liz was still in the castle. She had found a sublimely interesting light fixture and was not going to risk leaving and never being able to find it again just for something as trivial as a fire evacuation that probably wasn't real anyway. She was calmly sketching the intricate light patterns when a shadow was cast over her page. She looked up and frowned, "Do you want something?"

"Elizabeth, there is a fire and you are... drawing?"

Liz pulled a face at him, "I thought you said you weren't going to call me Elizabeth anymore."

"My apologies, _Liz_." He stressed her name, though he may have added a muttered -_beth_ to the end, "You really should get outside."

"What about you?" she demanded, "What are you still doing here? I'm drawing but you are doing nothing. Besides, this is just a drill."

"It isn't just a drill." He said seriously, "There is a fire."

Liz's mouth opened in surprise, "Oh, where?"

"In the Bloor family quarters."

"It was probably Manfred then." She continued with her sketching, "They'll put it out long before we are in any danger."

"It is probably safer for us to just go outside." He pressed.

She shrugged, "I'm perfectly safe here, you can go or you are welcome to stay. Just stop blocking my light."

He shook his head, not quite sure of what he wanted to do before sitting down beside Liz, watching her hand dart over the paper with quick movements, creating an image in shades of grey. There was nothing but the sound of the alarm for a while and then, in brief periods when it shut off, Liz's humming could be heard but there was nothing but silence between them.

"Elizabeth-"

"Liz." She corrected, not looking up from her page, "Why do you have so much trouble calling me Liz?"

"I can't help it." He said quietly, "I really do like the name Elizabeth. I think it suits you."

"Oh." Her brow furrowed as she continued with the drawing. Silence descended again for a time. After a while she spoke, "I... I don't mind, I guess... You can call me Elizabeth if you want." She offered, her face hidden by a fall of red hair.

He smiled hesitantly, "You don't mind?"

"No... I don't think so." She looked up at him, her nose slightly screwed up, "I think... I think I'd like it."

"Alright then, Elizabeth."

And again there was silence.

* * *

It was Quin's reasoning that as she already had detention there would be no harm done if she broke some of the, in her opinion, the more stupid rules. It was well after lights out and she was supposed to be tucked in bed, nice and safe. Instead she had made her way out the castle by dropping out of a window near the front courtyard and was ready to go exploring.

"Hey, Frellor," Asa called, leaning against the academy wall. Technically, no one was allowed to be outside at night, but no one was going to impugn that rule on a shape-shifting wolf prefect. Quin, however, was not a shape-shifting werewolf and Asa was in prime position to abuse his power.

"Pike," Quin replied, approaching without even the slightest concern that Asa could change shape after dark. Feeling as if she were magically safe.

"You're not allowed outside after dark," he smirked.

"Care factor: zero."

"I could have you in detention."

"I'm already in detention," Quin said cooly, "So I thought I'd go explore the ruins."

"Going into the ruins, are you? _That's_ against the rules," Asa grinned wider, "all sort of creatures lurk in the shadows. A pretty little girl like you could get hurt."

"Bah." Quin waved his slightly threatening and strangely flirtatious comments away, "I could defeat shadow-monsters in my sleep."

"Sure."

"You're not very scary," Quin lied, "I bet you're like a puppy, really. Not at all evil."

"Huh, really now?" Asa moved forward, "wanna bet?"

"Sure. What are the stakes?"

"I do something evil before the month is up," Asa said, "and I win."

"Win what?"

"Whatever I want. I win you. I _own_ you."

"That is a lot of rope with which to strangle myself," Quin muttered, "I need some parameters. For example, I don't do public animal impersonations. That's your thing."

"Believe me, Quin," Asa said amusedly, "when I win this bet, it won't be animal impressions that I'll have you doing."

"And if I win?"

"Same terms," Asa grinned, "I could be your slave for a day, if you'd like."

"Oooh... I like that. A month."

"No way. Two days."

"Three weeks."

"Five days."

"Two weeks."

"One week."

"Deal."

"You're going to lose, Frellor, and my victory will be sweet."

"Bring it, Pike."

_Tbc..._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**The Smith Family**

Harry sat in the usual music room.

He had been waiting, for the past 10 minutes, for not only his teacher but for Gabriel and Allegra as well. It was unusual for Gabriel to be late, which was why Harry always made sure to be on time for piano – it gave him more time with Gabriel as Allegra was always, always late. Harry frowned at the thought of Allegra. Ever since they had started at Bloors she had become an incorrigible flirt. She used her long blonde hair, sparkly aqua eyes and bubbly personality to great advantage and had a accumulated devoted following of boys.

Not that she seemed interested in any of those.

The only person she'd shown any interest in was Gabriel, she pursued him relentlessly and never gave Harry a minute alone with him. She also, much to Harry's annoyance, dominated their music lessons with annoying wishy-washy songs about self discovery and love.

It was quite a terrible situation because while it was probably more understandable to murder your cousin over any ordinary person, his aunt and uncle would not be pleased with him at all.

He sat down at the piano and carelessly began playing a tune he had come up with last week. He supposed he could practise his assigned piece but it really was no fun when he was brooding about Allegra and Gabriel. Another 20 minutes passed and Harry was giving thought to leaving, he certainly wasn't going to stay in the draughty room if no one else was going to come and share in the cold but as he started gathering his things together he heard voices floating down the hall.

He peered out of the door and saw Allegra. She was with Gabriel and immediately a wave of infuriation shot through him. Not only was Allegra late, as usual, but now she was also causing Gabriel to be late. Allegra was twirling a strand of her hair in one hand and she was very close to Gabriel who was obviously quite uncomfortable with the whole scenario. All in all, she was in full blown flirt mode. Gabriel stopped walking and, looking quite serious, said something to Allegra. She frowned and then leaned forward and kissed him.

Harry's hands clenched into tight fists and he tried to to scream with jealousy. He hated Allegra so much at that moment he wanted to rip her heart out with his bare hands and then toss her body off the top of the music tower... or at the very least yell at her.

But he didn't.

He very calmly returned to the piano. His hands automatically running over the ivory keys, his eyes determinedly focused on a crack on the wall where the mortar had fallen away to admit a crisp wind. Gabriel entered not long after, looking troubled but Allegra did not follow. He closed the door and smiled apologetically at Harry.

"Sorry for being late. I... I got held up."

"Yes, by my cousin." Harry said, still looking at the wall, "She asked you out didn't she?"

"Oh... erm... yes, she did." Gabriel pulled out his music folder, "But... But I didn't say yes, you know."

Harry looked up surprised, "Really?"

"Of course." Gabriel sat down next to Harry and put his folder out, "I'm not really looking for anyone at the moment."

"Oh...yeah, sure." Harry hastily returned his gaze to the missing mortar.

"Girl's just aren't really my cup of tea." Gabriel continued, "I suppose Allegra is quite upset with me."

"She'll get over it." Harry said, smiling widely, "What piece do you want to do? I don't think our teacher is going to show up."

"What about Fantasia in F minor?"

"The piano duet?" Harry rifled through his sheets, "Sure."

* * *

Lucien Smith had been having a good day.

He had been having a good day right up until homework in the Red King's room. It had been normal enough until Manfred had chosen to pick on Jas for no apparent reason prompting Lucien to defend her.

Both he and Jas had been given detention.

Since the fire at the start of the week, Manfred had been acting... odd. He had been aimlessly wandering around the school, acting like a man possessed. He hadn't put anyone, besides them, on detention in three days which was such a miracle that nearly everybody had been content to ignore him and his strange mutterings.

"He's such a pompous ass." Jas said, "I didn't do anything to deserve a detention!"

"You didn't do anything to deserve him picking on you." Lucien corrected, morosely, "You certainly deserved detention."

"But I didn't do anything!" Jasmine argued, stamping her foot.

Quin laughed at her, "You argued, called him every name under the sun and swore a little. I thought you were going crazy."

"Fine. But Lucien definitely didn't deserve it."

The three were in an art room, helping Liz create a paper-mache sculpture. Quin and Jas were covered in the sticky glue mix, the result of a short-lived but fierce battle to decide who could create the most in the shortest time.

"I know!" Quin said, "I seriously thought Manfred was smitten with you but it seems I was wrong." She paused and frowned slightly, "This is making me doubt everything I've ever known about relationships."

"It isn't you." Lucien told her, "It's Manfred...It's complicated, he's complicated."

"I'd give you advice but it is still going to take me time to overcome this self-doubt."

"It's okay, Quin." Jas patted her shoulder, leaving a sticky white handprint on the navy blue t-shit, "We all hate Manfred. There should be a law against people like him. Stupid Manfred. Stupid detention."

"Detention isn't that bad." Liz said, calmly adding more glue to the mix even though it definitely didn't need any more "I had lots of fun. I found all this random stuff and I went into the ruins!"

"You went into the ruins?" Jasmine didn't seem to believe this and neither did Quin who snorted derisively.

"Well...no. But I was going to." Liz grinned and slapped some more paper onto the wire sculpture, "I annoyed Manfred a lot. He hates me even more now."

"We should totally do that!" Quin said excitedly, "Go into the ruin, I mean. I nearly went in the other night but Pike stopped me."

"You were going to go into the ruin without me?" Jasmine exclaimed, outraged. "What sort of cousin are you?"

Quin shrugged, "A bad one, apparently. But, yeah! We will annoy Manfred as well! Lucien, you can join us if you want. Get some revenge. Hell hath no fury like a wom... er... Smith scorned!"

"That is very thoughtful, Quin but I think I will try to keep out of trouble."

"Your loss. Lizzie, will you join be joining us in detention?"

Liz shook her head regretfully, "Nope. If I get detention two weeks in a row, Mamma will kill me... or ground me for life. Whichever is worse."

"Are you sure?" Quin seemed quite concerned about Liz not having detention, "It will be lots of fun."

"The idea of detention is that it is a punishment." Lucien said, "Fun is not part of it."

"You'll be sorry. Come the ruin games we will be prepared." Quin eyed the bowl of mix, "I think it needs more glue."

_Tbc..._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**The Smith Family**

Friday night saw yet another Bloor family conference (they really have a lot of those). Ezekiel was in his wheelchair, seated by the fire, glaring at his grandson who was standing nervously near a window. Manfred was slumped in his chair, head pressed against the wood of the dining table as he tried to block out his great-grandfathers half-ruined voice.

"The night of the full moon is soon and you have done nothing Harold! Nothing! What kind of useless excuse for a grandson are you?"

Ezekiel was not pleased to say the least. He had counted on having everything in place by now and only having to wait for the full moon but his plan was looking doomed to failure as Hrold had dithered around doing nothing.

"I'm sorry Grandfather but the children won't like that the endowed get an extra ruin game."

"They don't have to like it." Ezekiel snapped, "Just make it happen. Give them chocolate, sedate them, throw a dance, I don't care! Just have the endowed in the ruin on the night of the full moon!"

Harold sighed and rubbed his eyes, he hadn't had much sleep in the past few days with his grandfather's plan was turning out to be far more difficult and annoying than he had originally anticipated.

"We've never had a dance before." Manfred said, cautiously from his seat across the room, "The students would probably be so excited about it that they wouldn't even care about the extra ruin game."

"Marvellous!" Ezekiel cried, "Throw a dance and get the endowed in the ruin!"

Harold sighed. This plan was definitely looking less and less attractive.

* * *

It was Saturday morning at Bloor's Academy was empty with all students was happy at home, save a few troublesome souls on detention. It was a little past nine and with breakfast over and no desire to complete any homework Quin and Jas decided to finally venture into the ruin.

"It would be way more fun if we had explored last night!" Quin said, trailing along behind Jas as they walked across the oval to the ruin, making no effort to hide where they were going.

"And potentially have been stalked and eaten by your werewolf boyfriend? No thanks." Jas grabbed Quin's hand, "Hurry up. I have no desire to be caught and given another detention."

"No running!" Quin dug her feet in the ground, "We will get there in due time and then we shall explore, I have supplies that we can leave in different places to make things easier."

"Is that what you have in that bag? It seems kind of heavy."

Quin grinned, "Oh it is but the heaviness is worth it. Come the ruin game we will have stashes of energy drinks, fishing hooks, battery operated torches and flares."

"Flares? Quin, what on earth do we need flares for?"

"I dunno." Quin shrugged, "I'm sure we'll find some use for them. Maybe throw them at offending first formers?"

The two girls calmly strolled into the ruins, Quin leaving her supplies in suitable hiding places that only she would be able to find during the actual game (if she could remember) Jas took a piece of chalk out of her pocket and let it trail along the wall as she walked so that she would be able to find her way out later. A few hours later both girls were tired and had sat down in a shady inner courtyard to have a break. Quin handed Jas a juice-box along with a bag of chips that she had appropriated from Manfred's room the previous night. Quin also pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them.

"What are you doing?" Jas asked.

"I thought we could play some form of card game."

"Awesome sauce. Gimme my cards."

The two played several card games including the very mature 'snap' and 'go fish' but when both began to cheat outrageously they knew it was time to end the game and either continue exploring or head back to the school. Quin decided to follow the chalk line back to the oval and so left Jas to further explore the ruin and place the rest of their supplies in appropriate hiding places. Continuing her exploration, Jas kicked aside the rotted remains of a wooden door and entered a room that was empty save for an elaborately carved chest that had somehow withstood the sands of time.

Jasmine, like all Smiths, was a very curious person and couldn't possibly leave the chest alone and unopened. So, with considerable effort, she heaved open the lid and peered inside. The inside of the chest was an incredibly old, leather bound book and resting on the book's cover was a silver ring. Adhering to the age-old rule of 'finders, keepers' she pulled the book and ring out of the chest. She put the book in the backpack that Quin had given to her and slipped the ring into a pocket before finding her chalk line and following back out to the oval.

Finding a suitably sunny spot near the wall, Jas sat down and held the ring up to the sun. It was simple silver with two claws rising slightly off the band to clutch at a red stone which Jas guessed was a ruby. She slipped the band onto her ring finger. Jas stood up and stretched, the ring glinting on her finger as the sun hit it. She saw Quin lying on the grass about halfway back to school. Jas jogged over to her cousin and stood over her body.

"Quin? Are you dead?"

Quin opened one eye, "Uh no. I just got tired halfway back so I decided to lay down and wait for you."

"How nice of you." Jas pulled Quin up. "We should probably get back soon though because Elijah and Wentworth are going to come and get us... and probably take us for milkshakes to congratulate us on our first detentions of the year."

Quin grinned, "Alright then but no running."

Lucien sat in the empty King's room. He had eaten breakfast and then come straight to the room, avoiding Quin, Jas and their trouble-making schemes. He was going to serve this detention and then go home to forget about the whole ordeal. By now it was around lunchtime and while Quin and Jas had been busy breaking rules, he had made good headway into his chemistry assignment which was hard but he liked a challenge. Maybe that was why he was so attracted to Manfred Bloor.

Manfred was difficult. He was moody and broody and didn't seem to like very many people. He liked to be mean and Lucien had unthinkingly taken on the challenge of 'reforming' Manfred.

He was pulling another book out of his bag, wanting to further research his current topic when the door into the room swung open and Manfred walked in, his walk uncharacteristically stompy. Manfred sat down at the head of the table and glared at the portrait while Lucien ducked his head and continued with his assignment, never once looking up. Lucien finished off the part of the assignment he was working on and stood up, intending to go back to his dorm so he could pack up his suitcase, ready to go home when his uncles came.

"Mr. Smith."

Lucien stopped walking towards the door and faced Manfred, "Sir?"

"You are very protective of your family." Manfred said, moving towards Lucien, referencing to the incident that had gotten him detention.

"I try to look after them all, they are all very special to me."

"You look after you family. I do admire that." Manfred breathed, running two fingers down Lucien's chest.

"Sir..."

"Shush." Manfred admonished, placing a finger over the blonde's lips, his other hand working on the buttons of Lucien's crisp white shirt.

"Sir... What are you doing?"

"I want this shirt. It is much better than mine."

Lucien let Manfred pull his shirt off and engaged him in a searing kiss, threading his hands in the long dark hair. The two kissed for quite a while, confirming that all had been forgiven between them, and finally broke apart when they heard loud footsteps coming down the hall. Lucien quickly pulled his shirt on and sat down back where he had been originally. Manfred quickly left the room, smoothing down his incredibly messy hair.

Jas burst into the room, "HA!...Oh." Her face fell when she discovered there wasn't anything particularly interesting happening in the room. Quin followed her in and scowled at Lucien, she too had been hoping to burst in on something interesting.

"Hello brother mine." Jasmine said in way of greeting as she sat down next to him, "What you doing?"

Quin sat down on his other side, "Boring homework obviously, Jas. I thought he would have been improving relationships... If you know what I mean."

"Yes, Quin. Thank-you." Lucien ruffled Quin's hair, much to her annoyance. "I see you two have been very busy. That's a pretty ring, Jassie." He picked up his sister's hand and rubbed the ring.

"Nothing gets past you." Jas said, "Yeah, I found it in the ruin."

"The ruin? Jas, I can't believe you went in there, it's dangerous."

"Don't fear for us, Luci." Quin patted his arm in consolation, "We were very brave and we left lots of supplies in there to aid us in the ruin game. Some might call it cheating but we call it planning ahead."

"What did you put in there?... Do I want to know?"

"Just your run of the mill fishing hooks, torches, energy drinks and flares."

"Flares? Quin, where on earth did you get flares from?"

"I have connections."

"Uncle Sebastian is going to skin you alive if he finds out that you took his flares."

"Whatever." Quin shrugged, "We just came to get you because Elijah and Wentworth are here and want to take us for milkshakes. You know, to congratulate us on no longer being goody goodies."

Lucien sighed and stood up, "Alright then. I'll just go get my stuff."

"Aw, Lucien, it's okay." Jas gave her brother a big hug, "No one is going to care that you had a stupid detention. It was inevitable, me being your twin and all."

"Thank you Jas. I won't be long."

"I'll come with! I left my slippers upstairs." She grabbed his hand, "Quin, we will meet you in the foyer?"

"Coolios." Quin waved at them and went off down the hall way towards the foyer, stumbling a little.

Lucien walked briskly along the corridors towards his dorm, Jas trailing along behind, flipping through the book she had found in the ruin and loudly reciting it. She had found it to be the diary and possibly spell-book of a woman named Clytemnestra, a descendant of Guanhamra and Amadis, just like the Smiths.

"Luci! Listen to this! If there is enough magical energy on the site of the Red King's palace at the height of a full moon on the anniversary of a death then that person can be returned to life! There's a formula here to work out when it would happen!" She paused, trying to figure out the formula, "I suck at math, you look! We could be in terrible danger, like, I heard the Bloors tried to revive Borlath once!" She shoved the book into Lucien's hands.

"Jassie." Lucien sighed and handed her back the book, "The conditions of the rite are very specific. If the Bloors were trying to resurrect Borlath, which I highly doubt, they would need several very specific things to be true such as Borlath's spirit being present in the ruin and the full moon actually appearing on the date of his death not to mention gathering enough magical energy."

"Oh," Jasmine lost her serious expression, "It isn't going to happen?"

"I highly doubt it."

* * *

_Late update!_

_I forgot it was Monday and then I opened it on Tuesday afternoon and I forgot to actually post so here we are, Wednesday._

_Sorry._


	13. Chapter 13

_A/n: I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to do updates on Mondays. It is usually just after my Modern History class on Tuesdays that I realise and dash off to a computer to update. This chapter is just a filler because I'm tired and bogged down with assignments and crap. Next chapter will be better... promise._

**Chapter Thirteen  
The Smith Family **

Jasmine Smith was not one to take joy in the misery of others unless that other was one of her cousins who had involved herself in a very stupid bet. Jasmine grinned and skipped down the hall to sit next to Quin at the table for breakfast, "So, now that you're the official property of Asa Pike-"

Quin looked up from her bowl of cereal and glared, "Shut up."

"Now that he owns you completely," Jas finished, "what are you expected to do?"

"Anything. Everything. I'm dead, Jas."

"Yeah, it's looking that way," Jas said pityingly.

"So far it hasn't been too bad," Quin admitted, "but as I'm bound to eternal servitude-"

"-for a week-"

"-he can technically ask me to top myself. In theory."

"But you wouldn't."

"No. Probably not. But I do have to do whatever he says. 'Specially in Drama class."

"Gah, that's no fun."

"Indeed it isn't."

* * *

Drama was the perfect subject in which to gossip. Quin and Jas oftentimes spent the whole lesson dishing about the latest make-ups and break-ups on the floor in the corner of the room. Their non-existent dedication to the subject never failed to irritate Manfred who was, much to everyones dismay, still teaching the class. Today's subject of discussion was what they described as the 'tragic triangle', which of course referred to the affair between Harry, Gabriel and Allegra.

"And _Gabriel_ said that he wasn't looking for anyone at the moment, and Harry was all sad, but _then_ he said that girls weren't really his cup of-"

"Quin, shut up," Asa grinned malevolently, walking over to the where the girls were reclining on a pile of discarded costumes. Quin sat up, glared, gritted her teeth and obeyed while Jasmine tried to muffle her laughter and failed.

"What's the matter?" Asa asked, bending down to toy with a piece of her hair even while Quin glared at him murderously, "Not regretting our little deal, are you?"

"No, sir." The word tasted strange in Quin's mouth. The whole eternal-servitude-for-a-week thing was not working out as well as she had intended. She should have known that it was going to end badly for her though if he kept going this way it was going to end even worse with him tossed out a window.

"Atta girl," He smirked, "I expect you will not mind doing my English homework for me. I'm busy with other things."

"What's the homework?" Quin asked warily.

"Nothing challenging. A couple comprehension sheets and a story. I'm sure a clever little thing like you could do it in your sleep."

"Bite me." Quin said shortly, "Bite me and then go screw yourself."

"Now, now, Quin," Asa said gleefully, "that was a bit rude. I'll be wanting an apology."

"Fine."

"Make it convincing."

"Asa," Quin abruptly changed her expression, looking starry eyed and innocent, proving why she was actually in the drama class, "Asa, I'm _so_ sorry. I didn't mean... I'm just _so_ tired at the moment. _Of course_ I'll do your English homework."

Asa was momentarily stunned by the convincing show. He opened his mouth to speak several times, and eventually gave up altogether, "Uh... good. Um... bye."

"-tea, and we all know what thats code for, so clearly Gabriel is gay and dropping Harry some heavy hints, I wonder if..." Quin immediately started up her story again. And the lesson proceeded as planned.

* * *

"OH MY FRICKEN GOD!"

Shrieks were echoing up and down the halls of Bloors Academy. Girls were babbling incoherently and boys were exchanging looks ranging from confusion to extreme fear. People were racing along corridors to find their friends and share the good news. During the confusion that was quickly overtaking the school the Smiths, by some unspoken agreement, had gathered out on the oval to discuss the new development.

"Holy effing shit! We're having a dance!" Gabby was bouncing on her feet, the note announcing the dance, that had been handed out in the previous class, crushed in her hand.

"Someone is a wee bit excited, me thinks." Fred teased, pulling his cousin's hair.

"Ouch!" Gabby complained, "Don't do that."

"Aren't you excited, Freddy-kins?" Quin asked, "We're having a dance!"

"This probably some sick trick that the Bloors are playing on everyone." Harry muttered from his perch up in a tree, "Making all you girls excited before telling you that it isn't happening."

"No!" Gabby had stopped her bouncing, aghast. She looked terrified at the prospect of the dance not being real.

"Don't listen to him." Allegra said, "Harry is cranky and mean."

Harry didn't bother defending himself, he just climbed higher into the tree, avoiding Jasmine as she swung her way down. She had tried to reach the very top of the tree but the branches had thinned out a little too much for her liking.

"This is going to be great." Lane enthused as Jas sat down, joining the half formed circle of cousins and siblings, "We get to dress up and dancey dance and, and, and..." Lane trailed off into fanciful imaginings.

"You know what else a dance usually involves?" Liz asked, "Partners. That is fricken scary."

"Why don't you ask Dagbert?" Quin asked snidely.

"Why don't you sit on a cactus?"

Lucien intervened before a fight could break out, "Please Quin, don't be mean to her. We can't all have werewolf-boyfriends."

"Apparently we can't all have hot, pseudo-teacher boyfriends either." Jas smiled, placing a crown of plaited grass on her brother's head.

"Shut up. Well Hera? What is the final decision is this party going to be hot or not?"

Hera thought for a moment, her head tilted back against the tree trunks, "Hot. Definitely hot."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**The Smith Family**

The lead up to the dance had been filled with frenzied preparations. Girls had gone dress shopping at the earliest possible moment, determined to have an totally unique dress and worried over how they would wear their hair as they wouldn't have the luxury of going to a hair salon beforehand. The boys hadn't found the preparations any less strenuous, finding that tuxes, shoes and appropriate dates far more stressful than they had anticipated.

The whole collection of Smith girls had gone shopping together one weekend in order to get advice from each other and have someone familiar to yell at when they couldn't find that perfect dress. After a particularly exhausting Saturday they had all found a dress and had ended up at home, gossiping about who was going with who.

Quin had been extremely pleased to announce that she was going with Asa. Jas and Lysander had challenged each other to a dance off which had ended up with a strange sort of agreement that they would go together. Liz refused to entertain the notion that she would be going with Dagbert though she did go a little red whenever he was mentioned. Lane and Allegra were going without partners with Lane firmly insisting that she did not need a man to make her happy unlike the rest of her weak minded cousins and not a single person was surprised when Gabby announced that she would be going with Charlie.

The Bloors had decided to throw the dance on a Monday, before the ruin games happened on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the special and yet unannounced Endowed game on Friday. All in all it was going to be an eventful week. On the Monday the students had been allowed out of class just before lunch in order to prepare for the dance. Everyone had been warned that if they were dressed inappropriately they would not be allowed in... not that the warning deterred many people.

Everyone had assembled in the main foyer just shy of 7pm, eagerly awaiting the opening of the doors. When the doors did open, 15minutes later than expected, girls in shimmering dresses and boys in elegant tuxes streamed into the ballroom, ready for a night of magic. Food wasn't going to be served for a little while so everyone trooped onto the dance-floor to bust a move or two. Jasmine and Lysander immediately entered into their dance competition, trying to out manoeuvre each other. Quin watched in amusement from her position slightly away from the dancing students before smiling awkwardly at Asa.

"Let's go dance! Though I should warn you that I'm not a very good dancer. I'll probably step on your feet."

Asa shrugged, "Whatever. I'm not exactly the king of groove."

Quin giggled, "Okay. Let's go."

Out in the centre of the dance-floor Quin found herself surrounded by family. Jas was dancing very energetically, Hera was dancing with Emma, Gabby was almost glued to Charlie and Lane was dancing with Allegra who was sending very dark looks towards Harry. The music was good and by the time food arrived, Quin was sure she had lost several kilos by dancing. Everyone went to their allocated tables to eat dinner. During that time Lysander managed to eat all of his food and most of Jasmine's as well.

When dinner was over most couples went back to dance some more, ignoring the hawkish stares of still-sober teachers, determined to make the most of a night the likes of which Bloor's Academy probably would never see again.

"Dancing isn't my thing." Harry said, standing awkwardly near the other dancing couples.

"Mine either." Gabriel replied, "Maybe we should go sit... we can talk?"

"Talking is good." Harry confirmed, leading the way back to their table, carefully avoided his cousin's acid glare. Allegra was incredibly angry with him.

They sat in silence for a while before Gabriel sat up straighter and looked directly at Harry.

"I hope I haven't caused bad relations between you and your cousin."

"What? Oh, Allegra. Don't worry, she was a sulky brat before you and I met."

"Good... I didn't want to cause you any trouble with your family."

"Hey, it's fine. Allegra sulks at the drop of a hat, no one pays any attention to her."

"I... I really like you, you know."

"Well I really like you too. Maybe we should do something about this."

"Maybe."

Allegra was seated with her arms folded across her chest, watching Harry and Gabe sit and talk. She had been dancing but now it was just no fun as she had no partner with which to dance and yet another slow song was playing. It was depressing. Even Fred had found a pretty little brunette to dance with. Someone took the empty seat next to her and began playing with her long blonde hair.

"Sooo, Allie, you don't mind if I call you that, do you?"

"Piss off Joshua."

It was Joshua Tilpin, curiously free of all the debris that he was usually covered in.

"No. I don't think I will. You see, I don't have a partner so I don't have anyone to dance with... or annoy."

Allegra rolled her eyes, "I don't care. Just leave me alone."

"Don't be sour." He told her, tapping her on the nose, "It makes your face all scrunched up. Not at all attractive for someone as pretty as you."

Allegra glanced at him sceptically, "Uh huh."

"I would have asked you myself." He continued, "But you seemed to be have something going on with Gabriel Silk."

"Yeah that's never going to happen. He likes my cousin. My _male _cousin."

"That's too bad." He shrugged, "'cause you're quite pretty."

"Really?" Allegra loved compliments, "Well then. Are you going to ask me to dance?"

"Uh sure... Do you want to dance?"

Allegra took his arm and smiled widely, "I'd love to."

The DJ had just broken up with her boyfriend of five years and had started playing slow, sad songs back to back which had been giving the dance a somewhat depressing air. Couples had been mainly content to dance slowly together but eventually she had stopped playing music all together to partake of the expensive wine the Bloors had provided for all adults present. All dancing had ground to a halt until people were just standing awkwardly with no music. Jas and Lysander had quickly gotten tired of their dance competition and had come to the rescue of the musicless mass by taking up all the dj-ing duties. The music began to speed up again though Jas and Lysander soon began to experiment with the music and the ballroom was filled with crazy mixes of pop, classical, rock and salsa music. The pair continued to dance up near the turn table and Jas was sure she was having the best time of her life.

Liz had spent most of the dance glaring at the dancers. There had been a brief moment of hilarity when Allegra had started to dance with Joshua but she wasn't going to go and humiliate herself in front of everyone by attempting to move her limbs as far away from her body as possible (which was what it looked like everyone else was doing) so she chose to remain out of the way, sitting at her table, picking at the food which had been of higher quality than normal, which wasn't saying much because normally the food was terrible.

She was vaguely contemplating pulling out the comic book she had stashed in her bag when someone came over to her and touched her shoulder.

"You look really nice tonight, Elizabeth."

"Thanks, Dagbert." She didn't even look up to identify him, she didn't need to. He was the only person who ever called her Elizabeth.

"Why are you not dancing?"

"Because I hate dancing."

"Fair enough." He sat down next to her. "I'm sorry I didn't ask you."

"What?" Liz's face scrunched up in confusion, "Don't be silly. I'm the last person anyone should want to ask to a dance. I hate people and dances and dancing and incredibly loud, stupid music."

"But I kinda like you."

"Well you're crazy." She told him, "I'm not going to dance."

"I don't want to dance. Just sit."

"Good. 'Cause that is what we are going to do."

Lane shook her head, seeing from the corner of her eye as Liz and Dagbert sat together. They really did suit each other. She was happy enough to deal with Dagbert's moods and he was calm enough (usually) to deal with her craziness. Lane was having a great time. Going to dances was one of the things in the world, according to her and seeing all her family matched up made her exceedingly happy, even if she was concerned about Allegra and Joshua. She had been dancing with anyone and everyone all night and was surprised to find herself dancing with Tancred Torsson during a particularly festive song. She frowned at him and went to dance with another person but he grabbed her wrist to keep her.

"You going to run away, grammar girl?"

"Well I don't like you in the slightest, so yes, I am."

"You agreed to marry me." He reminded her, twirling her around, "What kind of fiancée are you?"

She rolled her eyes, "I only agreed so you would leave me alone. So go away."

"Nope. You're stuck with me."

"What did I do, god, to deserve such torment." She sighed, "You didn't even give me a ring. What sort of fiancé are _you_?"

"I'm afraid I don't have a ring on me but if you'll be so good as to wait a few more days, I'm sure I'll be able to find something suitable. Until then you must dance with me, agreed?"

Lane thought about it and then laughed, "Sure, why not?"

"WOOOH! I knew you two would end up together!" Quin called out across the floor, "You were in denial."

"Oh god." Lane shook her head in disbelief, "I am never going to hear the end of this."

The music was loud, the bass thumping through the floor and the crowd jumped up and down in time to the beat. Hera and Emma had spent the whole dance with each other, dancing side by side.

"I love this song!" Hera called to Emma over the noise.

"Me too! But I need to fix makeup!"

"Okay!"

The two girls left the hall and made their way to the nearest bathroom. Inside they cautiously avoided the crowd of younger girls who had surrounded their hysterical friend. Apparently Joshua Tilpin had asked her to the dance only to ditch her for Allegra. They surveyed themselves in the mirror and grimaced a little at what they saw. Their mascara had smudged slightly, lipstick had faded and carefully done hair had loosened. Their checks were flushed and eyes bright from all the dancing they had done.

"I look a wreck." Emma said, digging around in her clutch for her makeup.

"We both do." Hera impatiently tossed her long hair over a shoulder. She had opted to leave it down instead of taking the extra time to pull it into an elaborate style. Now her hair was sticking to the back of her neck, forming a tangled mass, and she desperately wished she had an elastic band or ribbon to tie it back with.

They both basically redid each other's makeup. Reapplying lipstick, mascara, eyeliner... the whole works. They worked quickly, chatting happily but both wanting to get back to the dance. They could still hear the music.

"This isn't going to work." Emma sighed, tugging on a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of place. Attempting to redo her hair could take a while.

"Here." Hera pulled the pins out of Emma's hair and carefully brushed it out. She then took the wealth of honey hair and braided it, securing it with the myriad of pins that she had placed by the sink.

"Oh... Thank-you. Does it really look okay?"

"You look fine." Hera stroked a stray strand of Emma's pretty blonde hair away from her face, "You look beautiful."

Hera cautiously pressed her lips to the other girl's. Both were aware of the startled stares of the younger, hysterical girls but neither cared, all that mattered was each other.

"That was nice." Hera whispered, taking Emma's hand. Emma smiled shyly and gripped Hera's hand back. The pair left the bathroom, hand in hand, ignoring the whispers from the younger girls. As they re-entered the ball room they narrowly missed crashing into Quin who was gallivanting around the room, ducking around chairs and tables

"Quin! What are you _doing?" _Hera called out after her cousin but didn't need an answer as a very elegant looking Asa Pike came rushing past, attempting to catch Quin.

It had all started with a conversation about gender stereotypes in society which then somehow morphed into a debate on whether Quin, in her high heels, could out run Asa. Quin had then declared that they had to find out for themselves.

"Quin, I'm going to catch you!"

"NEVER!" Quin didn't look back, determined to out run Asa. She only had to last until the end of the song... Unfortunately it was only about halfway through. She swerved around Gabby and Charlie who had taken a break from dancing to shamelessly snog. Asa was gaining on her but the song was nearing it's end, she had run all around the ballroom and had nearly crashed into several people, including Hera and Emma. She was nearing the teachers tables and Asa was halfway across the room when her dreams of victory came crashing down.

Mr. Paltry, who had imbibed a copious amount of alcohol, stood up and unintentionally placed himself in Quin's way. Quin didn't have time to slow down and so half careened into the man. She stumbled away and tripped over the abandoned tuxedo jacket of some idiot. While she had been trying to regain her balance Asa had caught up and moments before the song ended he grabbed her arm.

"Gottcha."

Quin made a low growling noise of frustration, "If it hadn't been for _stupid _Mr. Paltry I would have won."

"Unfortunately my dear, you didn't get away. Now... What to do with this delicious looking prize I've caught."

Quin stopped struggling and allowed him to pull her close to him. Her heels put her at near the same height as him allowing her to directly stare into his tawny eyes.

"Some people kiss their prizes..." She smiled coyly, twirling a stray strand of curled black hair.

"Right you are." He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her soundly. Quin drew back and smiled wickedly.

"What?" Asa asked.

Quin giggled and then took off, racing through the crowd of dancers. "Catch me if you can!"

It wasn't only Mr. Paltry who was a little inebriated. Dr. Saltweather and Miss. Chrystal had started doing a strange sort of waltz but neither were particularly steady on their feet.

"What a disgrace." Manfred muttered, watching the drunk staff members dance from his corner of the room.

"What is?" Lucien asked, coming over to him. Lucien had been appeasing his sisters and dancing, but now they were dancing with their chosen partners and he had been left to his own devices.

"This is the site where once a great king ruled, his legend immortal. These insignificant mortals could at least act with a measure of decorum befitting such a legacy not swilling wine like common drunkards."

"Are you alright?" Lucien asked hesitantly, wisely refraining from commenting on the half empty bottle of wine on the table next to Manfred.

"I'm completely fine!" Manfred snapped.

"You just seem a little... off."

"No.. In-fact, I'm almost alive again!" Manfred grabbed Lucien's chin, forcing his face upward. Lucien only struggled a little before sinking into the harsh kiss, feeling almost like he was drowning beneath the sensations ripping through him.

"You don't even struggle." Manfred breathed, "I think I'll keep you. It seems my descendants aren't as stupid as I thought."

Lucien tried to pull away but Manfred held him fast. Lucien noticed with increasing horror that Manfred's eyes weren't their usual dark brown but an odd, almost red colour.

"Manfred... you're hurting me, let go."

"Manfred!" He laughed, "Ah how diluted the powers have become, you cannot see the work of you and yours. It is only suitable that you give your lover to be my host, and fitting that he is of my own descent."

"Your own descent... Manfred, what are you talking about?"

"You don't recognise me?" Manfred mused, "I suppose you wouldn't. My siblings were none too bright and you are descended directly from two of them."

Lucien looked puzzled and tried again to pull away but Manfred held him fast, leaning close, to whisper in his ear, "I am Bor-_lath." _Manfred... Borlath, smirked at the expression of horror on Lucien's face, "Oh yes, pretty-one. I've been hidden, trapped in the ruins of my home for a long time." He said, in a voice that managed to sound like Manfred's but not like him at the same time, "But now, I'm nearly returned... soon, you and the other descendants of my weak siblings shall bring about my full return!" Manfred, Borlath, squeezed Lucien's hand and Lucien thought his bones might break under the force before the grip went limp.

"M... Manfred?" The boy had slumped in his seat, eyes staring at the ceiling, unseeing.

He sat up and stared around the room, eyes still a little glassy. "What happened?"

"I...uh... I don't know."

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	15. Chapter 15

It has been a fantastically long time and I am sorrrrry! School holidays saw my brain turn into mush and most of the time I didn't know what day it was let alone that I was supposed to be updating things :| But now that I'm back at school there should be some regularity restored to the updates. Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

**The Smith Family**

The next morning everyone was, for lack of a better word, dead. The student body as a whole was extremely displeased that they still had to go to class despite the dance the night before and the first ruin game that night. The combination of deadness and displeasure showed itself, oddly, in the clothing choices of the students and most particularly in the Smiths most of whom had already possessed questionable fashion sense.

Liz was very fashionable in last nights makeup and a creased blouse. Lane had obviously not brushed her hair and was styling a pair of fluorescent pink sunglasses. Allegra looked like her mother, her blonde hair waving loose and glasses on as putting in her contacts had been an effort and a half. Despite the coldness outside Jas was wearing an odd assortment of clothes that made her look like a pirate. Hera looked the most presentable, her hair had been brushed and she was wearing a green oriental style dress.

It was, unsurprisingly, Quin who took the title of the craziest dressed person. She had appeared at breakfast wearing a bright pink tutu, a rainbow stripped leotard, green and yellow stripped toe socks and silver flip-flops. Almost as if she had planned her craziness. Gabby came in a close second wearing what looked like a dressing gown, with no belt, a scarf and no shoes.

"What are you wearing?" Manfred demanded as Quin and Jas stumbled into drama. Quin was clutching Jas's arm like it was life support, she didn't think she'd be able to walk on her own, her brain wasn't functioning.

"If you are gonna make us come to classss." Quin slurred, "We're gonna dress like hobos and pirates... which is what you look like Jassie, nooooo offence."

Jas shrugged, she was in a world of her own, she had been thinking very hard about the velocity of coconut laden swallows. Manfred wisely decided not to tell them off. Even usually sensible Lucien was behaving a little oddly today.

"So freezing." Quin muttered halfway through the lesson, "I will be back."

She shuffled out of the room, without asking Manfred permission. 10 minutes later she dragged herself back in wearing a floor length, bright red ski jacket. She looked like she had been wrapped in a fire blanket.

"You look warm." Jas said in way of greeting.

"I am. And if I fall over it won't hurt at all."

"That's good." Jas agreed, "Share it with me?"

The two girls spent the rest of their day huddled in various corners sharing the ski jacket, blithely ignoring all strange comments.

That evening the first of the ruin games commenced. The art students went in and one by one the students came out, empty handed. Gabby had managed to sprain her ankle, Hera had sensibly come out after a one hour stint in the ruins and, after she found her way out, Liz yelled at Quin, saying that she had been stalked by Asa.

"I WAS STALKED BY YOUR WEREWOLF BOYFRIEND!"

"And what exactly am I supposed to do about this? I can't get him to stop stalking me let alone my deranged family members."

"I COULD HAVE BEEN EATEN! WHY WOULD HE EVEN STALK ME!"

"She was have mentioned to him that it would be funny." Jas remarked from her bed

"WHAT!"

"Jas!" Quin complained, "You weren't supposed to tell her."

"SO NOW MY WHOLE LIFE HAS BEEN TURNED INTO SOME SICK JOKE FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT?" Liz's voice was starting to go hoarse, all the shrieking taking it's toll.

"It already was a joke for my amusement. I'm just adding another element."

Liz's eyes bugged out and she leapt for Quin. Jasmine thought she ought to prevent her cousins from strangling each other but it was really too entertaining to stop.

* * *

The next night it was the drama students turn. Lane had stuck with Lucien who had used his glow in the dark ability to great advantage. Jas and Quin had stayed in the ruin longest and had attacked several other students with their emergency supplies but still hadn't managed to find the medal. They were, however, awarded with detention for physically harming fellow students.

"So not fair." Quin muttered, "We did nothing. Only when we were provoked did we defend ourselves with what was available."

"Why, then, did you jump on that person's head?" Lane asked, brushing her out her wind-tangled hair, "I can't imagine that was called for."

"Oh that... Well I was on the roof and I kinda fell. Completely accidental they didn't have to start screaming about brain damage and stuff."

"That kid you tied up and left in a corner?"

"Also not our fault."

"Yeah!" Jas chimed in, "They were following us, trying to get us to find the medal for them."

"They were lucky I didn't blow a rape whistle!" Quin said, "Seriously. We didn't do anything without reason."

Lane shook her head in disbelief, "The flare you set off in a courtyard that nearly burned someone half to death?"

"We were alone and scared." Quin said, shoving the remains of a chocolate bar into her mouth.

"And what about that person you knocked out and tied to a pillar using their hair?"

"Re-enacting a crime novel." Both girls answered simultaneously, smiling serenely and trying to act completely innocent.

"Well... the jury may still be out but I'm going to say you deserved this detention."

* * *

The third and supposedly final game was held the next night. The music students streamed into the ruin, intent on finding the still elusive medal. Harry and Fred decided to team up and successfully navigated most of the ruin before descending into a tunnel that came out somewhere near Julia Ingledew's bookshop. Allegra decided that despite the ridiculousness of the game she would make the most of it and follow Gabriel.

"Gabriel, I really really like you."

"Allegra, we've been over this. I don't see you as anything other than a friend... a friend who is becoming exceedingly annoying in their persistence." He muttered the last bit under his breath.

"Maybe if you just gave me a chance."

"No. Allegra."

"So what? You're like gay or something. You like my cousin, Harry? I didn't even know he was gay. I don't think he is. I don't think you are either. You're confused but I can help you overcome this and we'll be very happy..." She continued to prattle on. Gabriel gritted his teeth, tried to ignore her and focused on either finding the medal or finding his way out of the ruin.

"Look Allegra!" He stopped walking and spun to face her, "I'm flattered by your attention, I really am but listen. Even if I wasn't attracted to Harry I still wouldn't go out with you. You're smart and pretty, and I'm sure you aren't usually half as annoying as this but you are the last person in the world I could be attracted to."

He didn't wait for her response, certain that it would involve tears and hysterical declarations of love. He disappeared into the darkness of the ruin, following the sound of other student's shrieks of amusement and laughter.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

**The Smith Family**

* * *

"Where the hell is Lane?" Liz demanded rubbing her hands together, trying to warm them up, "It is freezing. I just want to get this over with so we can go home."

It was Friday night and all students had gone home with the notable exception of the endowed who had been forced to stay at the school and participant in another ruin game. None of them knew why, none of them cared, they just wanted to go home but they weren't allowed to until after the game. So now they were impatiently waiting for the game to start. It should have started 20 minutes ago but Lane Smith had been conspicuous in her absence and so they were still waiting. Finally, Lane came galloping across the oval, a green cloak wrapped around her. How she got a green cloak was unknown, especially considering she was in drama. It was surmised that she had stolen it.

"Miss. Smith, you are late." Manfred glared at her as she joined the group.

Lane waved one hand around in an airy manner, "Yeah but better late than never, Manny. Come on, let's go!"

"Where have you been Lane?" Liz demanded as they went into the ruin, torches held aloft, "We've all been waiting."

"I was busy." Lane replied, "Now go away. I'm going to find this damn medal and never get detention again!" She laughed in a particularly maniacal manner and then dashed off down a narrow passageway.

An hour later Lane was beginning to think it had been a very bad idea to go off on her own. She was lost and her torch was not shedding very much light at all. She was dreading the moment when the batteries would fail and she would be plunged into darkness, she really should have stuck with Lucien, he never had this problem. She found herself at a dead end when the torch did finally die. She cursed loudly and blindly reached out to the wall, hoping to retrace her steps and maybe run into someone who still had a working torch. She tripped over a pile of debris and crashed to the floor, grazing her knees and the palms of her hands.

"Ouch." She stood up, wincing, her hands and knees stung and were probably bleeding a little, "Stupid ruin. Stupid Bloors. Stupid family." She kept muttering to herself as she inched along before promptly running into something, "Stupid walls."

Someone laughed and a torch flicked on, standing before her, grinning, was Tancred. He was splattered in mud and had bits of grass clinging to his arms and face like he had been swimming in a swamp or something. He gave her a hand and pulled her up, "What are you doing, Lane?"

"What does it look like?" She snapped irritably.

"Having a party? meditating?"

"Very funny. What do you want?"

He didn't respond, too busy staring at her outfit which had been revealed when her green cloak had fallen away when she stood up. It consisted of a multi-coloured, tie dyed, dress with long sleeves and a short skirt, bright purple tights, black boots and a belt with the Gucci logo as a buckle.

"What are you wearing?" He demanded.

"Oh." She smiled brilliantly and spun around, "I'm Super Grammar Girl! You likie?"

"That's erm... weird."

She stopped spinning and glared at him,_ "What?_" She hissed, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Awesome. When I say weird... I mean awesome."

"Damn straight!" She grinned madly and twirled around again, enjoying the feeling of her cape flaring out behind her.

Tancred grabbed her by the hand to stop her spinning, "I've got something for you."

Lane's eyes lit up with childlike joy, "Really! GIMME!"

He laughed and dug around in his pocket a little before going down on one knee, grinning rakishly, "I asked you to marry me." He said, sliding a ring onto her finger, "Here is your ring."

Lane inspected the ring, it was obviously a piece of junk he'd picked up somewhere, maybe the art rooms. It consisted of pieces of twine plaited over and over again to form a band. Mounted on the band was not a stone but a small, plastic elephant.

She giggled, "I love it! Now come on! We've got a medal to find."

Tancred looked at her askance as she dragged him along and finally came to the conclusion that he would never understand Lane Smith. As she was leading them across a weed infested courtyard she got distracted by a bright light coming from down a corridor which she promptly decided needed investigating. The pair found themselves in another courtyard filled with all the other endowed. They were all staring, transfixed, at wide gaping hole in the pavement. As they watched lines of white fire ran out from the chasm, lines that lit the weeds tangled in the stones as they ran, so that, within a second, the courtyard was filled with thick grey smoke, totally obscuring whatever had emerged from the chasm.

"What on earth?" Lane peered around, trying to see through the smoke.

"Shut up." Quin scuttled over to her, "Something's happening."

"Lane." Fred came up to his sister and tugged on her arm, "That thing, it looks sort of like what we saw that night..."

Sure enough the lines had coalesced into a humanoid form for a split second, resembling what they had seen that night on detention. It prowled back and forth before splitting back into individual lines. Across the courtyard Jas was gripping her brother's hand, there was an awful metallic feel to the air. It was tangy, unnatural, nerve-jangling, tainting the natural smoke odour. It was making her feel ill and the ring on her hand seemed hot, burning her finger.

"Lucien... we need to go."

Lucien shook his head, eyes wide with worry, and pointed to another part of the courtyard where Manfred had appeared and was walking woodenly through the smoke. Then he saw the white fire-lines again, streaming out, converging, roiling, coming together and a blazing, blue-white creature stepped into the centre of the courtyard. The children couldn't look at it directly, but from the corners of her arm-shielded eyes, Jas saw something human in shape, taller than her, and thin, almost starved. It had no legs, the torso and head balanced upon a column of twisting, whirling force.

"Free now." said a voice, that made Lucien flinch. It was that same voice he had heard at the dance only louder, harsher, less human than before, every word seemed to crackle, like an electric generator.

The thing went roiling towards Manfred and stopped a hairsbreadth away from him, before, with a lurching movement, accompanied by a dangerous crackling sound, surging into Manfred. The creature suddenly started to lose its brilliance, sucking darkness into its swirling body as it disappeared into Manfred. Within a few seconds, Jasmine could barely make it out as small tendrils of darkness drifted into Manfred.

"Flesh price... paid." The thing said using Manfred's mouth. A small trace of Manfred's voice could be heard, all but submerged in zapping, crackling menace.

"All thanks to you, children... You_ Smiths." _It very calmly paced around the yard, almost as if it was trying out it's new body... Manfred, "Kneel."

The command was irresistible, all the children found themselves on their knees before they had a chance to think about it. Inside their heads they felt a pressing sort of malevolence and they all knew who was before them. Not Manfred.

Borlath.

Desperately, Idith and Inez sent sharp, dagger like fragments of stone hurling towards him. The fragments flew through the air, faster than any thrown dagger – and went straight through him, apparently without effect. He laughed, a series of rises and falls like a dog screaming pain, and lazily slid forward. Its languid motion declared it would have no more trouble disposing of the children than it had in burning the weeds. Jasmine thought back to the book she had found, determined not to panic. Her head flicked backwards and forwards, checking the ground, as her mind raced, considering options.

"Keep thinking," Laughed Borlath, advancing towards Lucien, "Such a pity your head doesn't work too well."

Jasmine noticed that while Borlath's attention was fixed on her and Lucien, the other children were making their way out of the courtyard, disappearing into the darkness, to take their chances in the ruin.

"Sentiment." He said, sliding forward, towards Lucien. It laughed again and an arm suddenly unleashed, snapping across the intervening space to strike Lucien across the face, "A memory, now purged."

Lucien staggered backwards but Borlath caught him before he could fall, "Memories, yes, many memories," He continued, now circling Lucien, pushing him towards the fading fire of the plants. They would burn out soon, and then there would be only be darkness.

"Millennia of imprisonment, chained by trickery, treachery... captive in a repulsive, non-corporeal shape... but there will be payment, slow payment – not quick, not quick at all!" It paused, "I'll keep you... yes, I'll need a pretty little pet to keep me company."

Lucien faced his sister and mouthed one word at her, "Go."

Jasmine stared around the courtyard and realised, with a start, that she and Lucien were the only ones left. Everyone else had already fled. Lucien shot a pleading look at his sister who shook her head, determined not to leave.

Lucien glared at her and Jasmine made a silent promise to come back for him. Then, with a final backwards glance she fled into the darkness of the ruins.


	17. Chapter 17

_Did I update last week? I don't think I did, I have a horrible memory when it comes to updating. My apologies. Onwards:_

**Chapter Seventeen**

**The Smith Family**

The small group of children cautiously peered around the corner, making sure that the area was devoid of people before scuttling down the hall to the large room beyond. Inside the room, the everyone else had already gathered, huddled around the barely glowing embers of a fireplace. They all looked cold, hungry, tired and frightened... very frightened. It was early Saturday morning, they had spent the night hiding in the ruins and in the castle, trying to avoid Borlath and the few who had joined with him. They had already lost Dorcas who had been caught trying to escape the school grounds. Her screams of terror had echoed throughout the whole castle.

By an unknown, unspoken, feeling all the children had eventually gathered in this room, deep in the bowels of the castle where people rarely ventured. All night children had been trickling into the room, seeking comfort with each other. Some had slept, others had paced restlessly but now everyone was alert and awake, they had a decision to come to. The newcomers to the room stood wide eyed, near the now carefully locked door, watching as two factions faced off across the room. One one side was the Smiths, all showing the night's lack of sleep, and, on the other, the children who blamed the Smiths for their current predicament.

"You heard what he said!" Idith Branko said hotly, "Thanks to you _Smiths."_

"Yeah!" Her sister continued, "If it weren't for you, this wouldn't have happened."

"Why would we have done this!" Lane demanded, "We lost Lucien for Christ's Sake!"

"Something went wrong, you sacrificed him on purpose, how should we know?"

Jas stood up from her moth-eaten chair and lunged at Inez, trying to strangle her. For a moment everyone was taken aback by Jasmine's sudden attack and then people were trying to pull her off Inez. She had her hand's around Inez's throat when Lysander finally got his arms around her and yanked her back. She struggled against him for a few moments before dissolving into tears, again. She had been crying about Lucien for hours.

"Stop it." Asa said loudly over the general noise, Inez was leaning against her sister, rubbing her throat and glaring at Jasmine.

"They have hatred in their hearts!" Joshua proclaimed, "They wanted to summon Borlath to get rid of all of us."

"SHUT UP!" Jasmine shrieked at him, "JUST SHUT UP!"

"Jasmine was the last person to leave the courtyard. She's probably the one responsible."

"I LEFT LAST BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL COWARDS!"

Quin shoved Lysander away and hugged her cousin, trying to soothe her, "Some of you have been working with the Bloors for ages, trying to raise Borlath, how do we know it wasn't you?"

"He did say it was thanks to you Smiths." Lysander edged, hesitantly.

Jasmine whirled to face him, "You're going to side with them!"

"Jassie..."

"Don't call me Jassie, you jerk. There is no one more important in this world to me than Lucien and if you all think I would willingly hand him over to Borlath then you are all idiots."

She took Quin's hand and marched to the door, "I am not going to stay here while you all put the blame at us."

Her remaining siblings and cousins followed her to the door, which she wrenched open, "I hope he finds you and boils your eyes in their sockets."

All the Smiths trooped out of the room, Allegra was the last one out and as she left, the door slammed with finality. The Children of the Red King stared at the door for a while before, once again, breaking out into loud squabbled. Now with the Smiths gone, they were looking for someone else to blame.

* * *

It had been several hours since the confrontation with the endowed and the Smiths had taken over an old library near the girl's every surface was covered with an inch of dust showing that no one had been in there for a very long time. Jas was seated in the centre of the room, flipping through Clytemnestra's book, desperately searching for a way to fight Borlath. Laid on the floor next to her was a sword she had found somewhere, it had a dull ruby in the pommel and a worn silver-plated cross-guard.

Her family was all around her, going through the old books that had been shelved and left untouched in this abandoned library decades ago. They all hoped that they might find something useful, something that would prove to the hateful endowed that they were innocent. Quin was sniffling, she was quite upset about the whole situation. She was going through a book with yellowed pages, but she wasn't really reading that pages, she was thinking about the whole, horrible situation.

The door creaked open and, as one, the Smiths froze. They immediately left their books on the floor and tables and raced for the relative safety of the shelves. The door opened further, and they all held their breaths, certain that Borlath was about to burst in and burn them all to cinders. A person entered the room and quietly closed the door behind them. From her vantage point on top of the shelves she had scaled, Quin saw the top of a head covered in flame red hair. She smiled widely and clambered down the shelf to engulf the person in a bear hug.

"Asa! I knew you'd come! I knew it!" She smiled up at him, hugging him around the stomach.

"Hey Quin," He hugged her back, "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

The Smiths came out from their hiding places to crowd around him, jabbering questions at a high speed. Jasmine picked up her book and then folded her arms, staring at him.

"Why'd you come? Everyone thinks we're evil."

"They're wrong." He told her, "Even if you were evil, I've done some not good things in my life, I wouldn't turn away from you."

"Aww..." Quin hugged him tighter.

"What's been happening out there?" Jasmine asked.

"Nothing good. The others have been trying to get to Borlath, hell knows what they will do if they succeed, some of them have been captured... Lysander."

Jasmine's face fell, she looked like she was on the verge of tears again, she shook her head, "We are looking for a way to fight Borlath," She said, "You can help us."

"Alright." Asa sat down next to Quin and began to help her with the book. All the Smiths returned to their respective books, silence descended once again.

At one point they heard loud footsteps outside in the hall and another time, the sound of people running on the floor above them. Both times they all froze, hoping that no one was going to come in. Jasmine was nearly finished the book when she came across the detailed proceedings for restoring a spirit to a body. She read it, fascinated, it was almost exactly what had happened the night before. As she carefully read every page she came to a near understanding. She threw the book on the ground and everyone looked up at her.

"We have to go to him."


	18. Chapter 18

_I remembered to update! *is tres proud of self* I don't think I updated last week, sorry. I'm basically risking life and limb to update this cause if my teacher sees me doing something other than school work she may kill me but I am so determined to keep updating reguarly-ish that I don't even care._

**Chaptern Eighteen**

**The Smith Family**

* * *

Leaving the safety of the abandoned library proved to be a more difficult business that entering it had been, particularly down the northern corridor which would lead to the place where Borlath was. There were guards, creatures made of fire and shadow and the endowed who had either willingly gone to Borlath or who had been forced to do his will. There were also the other endowed, those who had blamed the Smiths for what had happened. They were everywhere, trying to capture guards, what they would do if they succeeded was unknown even to them.

Jasmine hadn't let her younger siblings and cousins go with her. She was accompanied on her mission only by Quin, Hera, Lane and Liz. On her back could feel the weight of the sword she had picked up in the library, she didn't know why she had decided to bring it along, it wasn't like she knew how to use it, she would probably injure herself more than any enemy she tried to smite.

At one corridor that they had to go down, there was a large group of guards both the nether creatures and the endowed, who were alert and seemed willing to do violence to any who crossed them. Jasmine started forward, mind already gathering dust particles with which to blind and confuse them, but a sharp pain in her arm halted her. Quin, walking beside her, had dug her nails into the soft flesh of her wrist. Red, moon-shaped marks appeared as Quin hissed close to her ear.

"Wait! There are nine endowed, and six shadow-things, with more close by. What will it profit us if we are killed? It is Borlath who is the root of this evil, you need to get to Borlath."

Jasmine stood still, anger welling up in the core of her being. But she didn't attack. Just stood, watching the traitorous children. She turned away from the corridor, towards a staircase that would take them to a passageway that Lane had found while on detention.

Soon, with direction from Asa and Lane, they were beyond the arch of the dormitories, heading through a ruined passageway, everyone walking slowly in a single file. The sun had nearly set and the last rays of day shone dimly through grime encrusted windows and reflected from discarded pieces of metal. They emerged into a room directly across from a stairwell that led deep underground.

"There are heaps of guards here," Jasmine said, eyes darting from side to side, "They're kinda weak, for the most part – but there are lots of them."

"Do we go straight for Borlath?"

Hera asked. There was an unspoken question there. Should they – could they – save the taken endowed first? She glanced up and down the corridor, before answering. They had less than an hour of sunlight, if the looming rain clouds didn't intervene. Little enough time, anyway. Assuming that they could defeat the guards quickly, would they be able to get to Borlath? Each passing hour made it less likely that his spirit and Manfred's body could be split.

"We'll go straight for Borlath." Jasmine said, heavily, trying to blank out a sudden fragment of visual memory; Lysander racing out ahead of her across the sunlight covered oval.

"If we can defeat Borlath... they won't need rescuing."

Jasmine led the way with confidence, she had snuck into the underground rooms a while back, keeping to the edges of the corridors, where they might remain hidden. For a while they strode down the empty, silent corridors, the only sound the clacking of their shoes on the floorboards. Finally they reached a thick, wooden door that led into the main area of the Bloor quarters. The door was scorched and blackened.

"Borlath must have burnt it," said Liz, as they all stopped to look at it, "He's insane... listen!"

They all listen intently and head the sound of music along with Borlath's warped, high-pitched laughter. The scent of burning candles wafted under the door.

Jasmine sighed and pulled on the door handle, "We have to go in here."

The door stuck briefly in the frame but opened easily enough with a push of force. Beyond there was no light save for faint candlelight which showed old floorboards, leading straight forward. No curves or turns, just a straight corridor leading into darkness.

Jasmine trod gingerly, feeling the boards creak under her shoes, so that she flinched with nearly every step. This made for slow progress, with Lane close behind her, the light from the candles casting Jasmine's shadow down the hall in front, so she saw herself elongated and distorted, sliding into the dark beyond the light.

She smelled the fire before she saw it, somewhere far down the corridor. A burning, smoky smell that cut into her nose and lungs, filling her with the impression of a boiling expanse. Then, the hallway ended in a vast, rectangular hall, the floor before them was dark and in the centre of the room was a large, blazing fire, burning out of nothing.

The Smiths crept forward, they surrounded the fire and, following Jasmine's lead, spoke words in an ancient language that none of them actually understood. As they spoke the fire dimmed and gradually went out, leaving the room in near darkness. There was enough light to see Borlath step out from the shadows near a curtained doorway, "An inconvenience," He said, with a voice that was only marginally human, "I should have remembered what a troublesome brat that Clytemnestra was."

He raised a hand and two of the flame-being guards dragged forward a near unconscious person. Horrified, Jasmine recognised Lucien, his eyes reddened, bruises all over his arms, his nose was hideous swollen and encrusted with dried blood.

"Lucien!" She rushed to him, to the place where he had been thrown to the floor, "Luci, Luci, come on." She took his hand, he gave a low cry of pain and she saw terrible, blistered finger-marks on his wrist. Lane came over and helped support him.

Borlath was smirking at her, Jasmine could feel waves of malevolent hatred rolling off him to her, "Come forward, child, this won't take long." Borlath laughed then, the sound like a match lighting, and he started to move around the patch of charred floor where the fire had blazed.

Jasmine clumsily pulled the sword from it's scabbard across her back and lunged at him. Having never wielded a sword before her thrust went wide and he grabbed ahold of the hilt, yanking it out of her hands. The skin of Manfred's hands was pallid against the silver hilt. He threw the sword away, it clattered, a metallic sound, against the floor. "No sword could harm me," He said with a giggle like a dying man's cough. Then, with alarming quickness, he reached forward to grab her arm with one chill hand.

Jasmine cast a wild glance around the room, her cousins were engaged in fights against the flame-beings. Borlath was pulling her towards him, "Will you join me, child?" he whispered, breath reeking of death, "Or will you sink, unknowing, into the depths of your mind? I have many faithful servants who require a body."

Jasmine stared back, meeting his gaze for the first time. There in the hellfire of his eyes, she could see the faintest spark of blazing white. The ring on her finger felt loose, she instinctively curled her hand, and the ring felt looser still, slipping down her finger, was it expanding?

"What would you have, child?" continued Borlath, pulling her closer still, "Your brother crawls towards us – a pathetic sight – but you shall have the next kiss..."

The ring was hanging loose in her hand. It had grown larger, she could still feel the metal expanding until she held a silver hoop in her hand.

Borlath's lips moved towards hers, and still the ring moved in her hand. His breath was overpowering, reeking of blood and decay, but she had long gone beyond throwing up. She turned her head aside at the last second and felt, dry, corpse-like flesh slide across her cheek.

"A sisterly kiss," He chuckled, "A kiss for a many times great uncle – but it is not enough."

Jasmine felt a force grip her head, moving it back to face him but her left arm was free. Borlath's head bent forward, his face looming larger and larger – the silver flashed between them and the ring was around his neck. Jas felt the compulsion snap off, and she leant back, trying to hurl herself away. But Borlath didn't let go of her arm. He seemed surprised, but not anxious. His right hand went up to touch the band, "What is this?"

The ring constricted, cutting straight to the skin and even through the flesh, revealing solid darkness within Manfred's body. This darkness was also compressed, forced inwards, pulsating as it tried to escape. Two flaming eyes looked down in disbelief.

"Impossible," croaked Borlath, "How could you..." Snarling, he pushed Jasmine away, throwing her to the floor.

In the same motion, he snatched the sword from the floor. Swiftly as a snake, arm and sword went out, striking through Jasmine's thigh and deep in the floor beyond. Pain exploded, and Jasmine screamed; body convulsing around the blade in one awful reflexive curve.

Borlath left her there, impaled like a bug, and advanced upon Lucien. Jasmine, through eyes fogged with pain, saw Borlath look down, flames dancing on his fingers.

"Manfred," Lucien said, "Manfred..."

The fiery hands came down with a strangled shriek of rage. Jasmine closed her eyes, slipping into a world of pain. She knew she should do something about the blood pouring out of her leg but she didn't she just lay there where she was, and let it bleed.

She looked around the hall again. She saw Quin first, lying a little away, curled up on her side, unconscious. Lane was leaning against a wall, nursing a broken arm. Hera and Liz still fought the guards, Liz had a nasty gash on her face that was bleeding into her eyes. She saw that Lucien wasn't dead. The flames had scorched his clothes. Borlath was about to strike down again but the silver ring had slipped down to his shoulders, constricting.

Borlath struggled and shrieked, but the ring bound his arms. Capering madly, he threw himself from side to side, seeking to cast off the silver band that held him – only causing it to further constrict, disappearing into the flesh until it was no longer visible. Borlath continued to thrash until, suddenly, Manfred's body collapsed to the ground and a raging column of glowing white remained, constrained by the silver ring.

Still, the spirit fought with the ring, blazing hands forming and re-forming, body twisting and turning, even bucking, as if it could throw the ring like a rider from a horse.

"No!" It howled, and its whole twisting, coiling body lurched forward. Then the silver ring contracted once more, and a terrible shout of anguish, rage and despair came from the very centre of the white-flaming thing that was Borlath. Then, the column collapsed upon itself like a demolished building, to become a mound of incandescent light, the silver ring shining like a ribbon. A gleaming red eye shone amidst the silver – the ruby, grown to match the metal.

The ring constricted further, and then began to shrink. Gradually, the mound of light that had been Borlath split into two distinct hemispheres bounded by an equatorial ring of silver. Then the silver ring split into two, a ring around each hemisphere. They continued to shrink until two ordinary sized rings dropped to the floor, they hit Jasmine's side but she didn't pick them up. She closed her eyes again, the sword, which she regretting bringing, loomed above her, blade and hilt casting a shadow across her.


	19. Chapter 19

_Sorry late update! I had exams the past two weeks and it was waaaay stressful. Anyway, here we are, the second to last chapter. Enjoy!_

**Chapter Nineteen**

**The Smith family**

* * *

The aftermath of Borlath's brief resurrection was painful, to say the least. Lane's arm had been badly broken in two places, Liz had needed a ridiculous amount of stitches across her scalp, Quin had a bad concussion and her shoulder had been dislocated, Hera had a few broken fingers and a fractured wrist. Paramedics hadn't been quite sure what to make of Lucien's burns or Jasmine impaled on the floor. After a week or so, spent in recuperation, they had returned to school to be hailed as heroes. All of the endowed were suitably repentant for their actions against them during Borlath's very brief reign of terror.

A month later and there was a party getting into swing. All the extended families would gather together in one place every year or so to catch up with each other and exchange stories. People had been arriving for hours and so the field was a hub of activity with yet more people arriving by the minute. All the pets were going crazy with excitement.

Jasmine was sitting on the grass near the porch. She was playing with all the family dogs: Hercules the Yorkshire Terrier; Sergeant Sheep the Old English Sheepdog; Waffle the German Shepherd; Moon-doggie, her beagle; Attila the Scottish Terrier; Oblong the Pekarin and Tweed the St. Bernard. She could hardly been seen the writhing mass of dogs, as they jumped and barked excitedly.

Quin was sitting on the porch, watching the activity. She was holding her tortoise, Rock, stroking his shell. She glared at the dogs whenever they came near her.

"Jasmine!"

Jasmine stood up, pushing the dogs off her. She smiled widely when she saw Lysander and went skipping towards him. Halfway to him she stopped skipping and began spinning around in circles, arms outstretched to propel her around, "Lyyyysander!" She sang as she spun around, "Ly, Ly, Lyyyysander!"

"Jassie, stop spinning!" Lysander said, "You're making me dizzy."

"Never!" Jasmine proclaimed as she continued to spin, "Aaah! Catch me, my love!" She cried as she begun to fall over, her leg buckling. She pitched forward right into Lysander's arms.

"Gotcha." He smiled, hugging her, "Nice to see you, Jassie." Over the past few months he had, perhaps subconsciously, adopted Lucien's nickname for her.

"You're crazy to have come." She told him, "But I'm glad you did. Otherwise there would have been no one to catch me when I fell."

"Your leg still hurts?"

"A little bit." She rubbed her thigh, "It twinges a little. The scar is quite large, nice and shiny, you wanna see?"

He laughed, "That's okay, I..."

"GET AWAY FROM MY TORTOISE!"

The pair spun around to face Quin who was holding her poor tortoise high above her head, protecting him from Jasmine's jumping dog.

"Moon-doggie!" Jasmine yelled, "C'mere."

The dog stopped jumping and came running towards them. He jumped into Jasmine's arms and licked her face exuberantly, "Put your stupid pet away!" Jasmine shouted at Quin, "Or I'll let the Moon-doggie eat him."

"FINE!" Quin shouted back, "YOU TORTOISE HATER!" She stormed into the house.

"What on earth?" Lysander laughed.

"Come on." She dropped Moon-doggie to the ground and grabbed Lysander's hand, "We have cake!"

Jasmine dragged him around the outside of the house to where a large pavillion was set up, with tables underneath heaped with food. As she passed Lane she smacked her across the back of the head, there was no reason for her to do so. Lane complained very loudly and shoved Jasmine a little with her good arm.

"DON'T HIT ME!"

Jasmine laughed and pointed across the yard, "Go talk to Tancred. He's looking lonesome."

Lane grumbled, rubbing her head before giggling and galloping across the yard, "TANCRED!" She careened into him at full speed, knocking them both over. Tancred landed hard on his back, Lane landed on top of him, her broken arm cushioned comfortably on his stomach.

"Why'd you do that?" He demanded gasping for breath, slightly winded.

"I dunno." She rolled onto her back next to him, "Fun?"

"You could have hurt your arm."

"My arm is already hurt." She dismissed his concerns, "I'm fine."

"That's good... you, er, have lots of family members," Tancred said awkwardly, "I already thought your family was huge."

"Yeah... we go to weddings all the time."

"Your cousins must love that." He said, envisioning Liz all dressed up for a wedding.

"Oh yes. Our great-great-great whatever aunties used to poke Indi saying that she'd be next... it all stopped very suddenly."

"...Why?"

"Indi started doing the same thing at funerals."

"Oh... dear."

"She's terrific." Lane said sincerely, "But yes, we are a large family, because you see, it isn't just the Smiths. Like, Hera and Liz are Lennoxs and Quin is a Frellor and then, Pop had four siblings who all married and had lots of kiddies so there is also, well... of course, more Smiths and then, there is also the Callan, Desmarais, Lisle, Jones, Nolan, Keegan and Douglas families."

"Wow."

"Yeah. This is why we have only reunions once every so often."

"Um... so I was thinking, I know I proposed marriage to you but I realise I may have been rushing things, I just don't think I'm ready for this."

Lane grinned and sighed dramatically, "I know."

"You do?"

"I don't think I'm ready either."

"Oh, alright, that's good... It's not that my intentions have changed-"

"No, of course not."

"I mean if we get married now, I would make your life miserable and you are far too good a person for that."

"Good to know. Do you want your crappy ring back?"

"Actually I was wondering if we could just go to the start of a relationship rather than jumping all the middle steps like we did before."

"You want to go out sometime... I think I could swing that."

"You think you could swing that?"

"Only if you throw this rock at Liz." Lane handed him a smooth rock that she had picked up from somewhere and gestured to where Liz's beacon red hair could been seen amongst incredibly overgrown dandelions. Tancred shrugged and then grinned. He sat up a little to get a better view of Liz's head before half heartedly throwing the stone her way. It hit the back of her shoulder

Liz spun around, looking for whoever had thrown the stone but Tancred had already returned to lying on his back and she couldn't see him over the veritable forest of dandelions, "Stupid cousins," She muttered, waving her hands over the dandelions, watching with delight as they began feverishly snapping at her fingers. She reached into a pocket and pulled out pieces of salmon which she carefully feed to the ravenous flowers.

"I'm going to be Poison Ivy one day." She said without preamble when someone came and sat down next to her.

"Who?" Dagbert asked, a little confused. Liz was making even less sense that usual.

"Well, like Poison Ivy," She amended, "I will be a super-villain with powers over plants, I do have the hair for it." She tugged on a strand of her red hair, "But I am a Smith so I'll probably have like a million kids which could prove dangerous if I do become Poison Ivy..." She trailed off, a slight frown on her forehead.

"You'd make an excellent super-villain." He told her.

She smiled widely, "Really? Thanks! If I do become a super villain I'll be sure to spare you, you can be, like, my second in command or something."

"That's very good of you, Elizabeth."

She sighed, "You are never going to call me Liz are you?"

He smiled, "No."

"Fine then. I'll get you one day."

"I hope so... these flowers seem to be quite ravenous."

"They want cake, let's go get some." Liz stood up, shortly followed by Dagbert. She set off to get the cake but halted momentarily when Dagbert took her hand, smiling shyly. She shrugged and continued along, chatting wildly about her plans to be a future super-villain.

Across the yard Quin giggled, having noticed the slight affections between Dagbert and Liz, "They make such a good couple. They're so cute."

"Took them long enough." Asa commented, stroking her hand before jumping up and running around in a circle. He and Quin were playing duck, duck, goose with a large group of Quin's younger cousins. They were both doing their best to not catch the children as they chased them around the circle.

The children shrieked with laughter as the child that Asa had picked as the goose caught him and he had to sit in the centre of the circle. "How embarrassing." Quin grinned, "In the circle of shame."

"Shut up." He said affably, flicking a piece of grass at her.

"He said a bad word!" One of the little cousins said, wide eyed.

"It's okay, Cassius." Quin reassured him, "He is sorry. Say you're sorry, Asa."

"No."

"Fine." Quin glared and turned to her cousins, "What do we do with people who use bad words?"

"Put them in time out?" Elias suggested.

"NO!" Mathilda interrupted, as one of the resident Smith children she felt it was her duty to run the proceedings.

"Major Mathilda, you have a suggestion?"

"Yes Colonel! We jump them."

Quin pretended to think about this for a moment, "Captain Adelaide! Give the order!"

Seven year old Adelaide stood up straight, "GET HIM!"

The 11 children, ageing from seven to ten jumped for Asa who only had a moment to raise his arms over his head before he was swamped by the mass of children. Quin stood back laughing madly. After a short while she decided that Asa had learnt his lesson.

"STOP!"

Mathilda and Adelaide stopped at once, shortly followed by the variety of Nolan children – Cassius, Elias, Michael and Peyton. Quin had to pull the very excited Keegan children – Branton, Mavira and Connor – away and then she left Asa to fend off Willem and Vincent.

"Go get cake!" Quin commanded the children, "We have like a million different types."

"My mum makes the best cake!" Cassius declared.

Elias nodded in agreement, "I love Auntie Maddie's cake."

"Quuuuin," Connor tugged on Quin's arm, "Is there juice?"

"Only the awesomest variety of juice known to man! Mavira will get you some."

The cousins trailed off and Quin stood grinning down at Asa, "Are you sorry, Asa? Are you sorry for saying a naughty word?"

He stared up at her, "Your family is insane!"

"Please, you're dating me, I'm surprised you didn't already know this."

"I knew you were insane and the others that go to our school are insane but I thought the others might be normal."

She laughed, "You thought wrong. Now come on, I want to go eat Maddie's cake."

In her room on the second floor of the house, Hera surveyed the yard full of people stuffing their faces with an assortment of foods (mainly cake) before turning back to the rest of the room. It was quite an odd room. One side, Liz's side, looked like a bomb had exploded, clothes, paintings, comics, action figures and art supplies strewn liberally over every available surface. The mess stopped dead a line of duct tape stuck down the centre of the room. The other side of the room was spotless, clothes folded neatly, books stacked on shelves and paint brushes all together in a jar.

The only thing that was on both sides of the room was a massive fish tank which contained several species of exotic fish. Emma was crouched in front of the tank, eyes following the darting movements of the fish. Hera knelt down next to Emma and began pointing out the different fish, their names and which ones belonged to her and which ones to Liz, "Mine are Calypso, Davy Jones, Flounder, Napoleon, Hamlet, Juliet, Triton and Ariel."

"Nice names. What are the others called?"

"Keep in mind that they do belong to Liz. 007, Kracken, Mr. Wigglesworth, Popsicle, Sushi, Hippo, Cleopatra and Hoover."

"Cute." Emma giggled, "I like that Hippo is the fat one."

"He wasn't always fat. Liz fed him extra so that he'd match his name."

"Oh... oh dear."

"I keep the fish food hidden from her now." Hera shook her head, "She really is quite irresponsible."

"It is a good thing she has you, then." Emma squeezed Hera's hand. They were about to kiss when something slammed into the window with a large thunk. Both girls spun around and saw a piece of cake sliding down the window, leaving a trail of cream, icing and jam. Hera went back to the window and peered out. Down below stood Liz, grinning wildly, another piece of cake in her hand which she also launched at the window.

Hera pushed the window open, "ELIZABETH LENNOX WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"COME AND JOIN THE PARTY YOU ANTI-SOCIAL WEIRDO."

Hera rolled her eyes, "I AM NOT CLEANING THIS UP."

"WHATEVS, HURRY UP."

Hera slammed the window shut, "We'd better go down there. Who knows what Liz will do if I don't supervise her.

* * *

A little way from the house, Lucien sat on a fence swinging his legs freely as he enjoyed the sun on his face. He squinted a little as he saw someone approaching him and then waved happily when he recognised them.

"H...How are you feeling, Lucien?" Manfred Bloor hesitantly asked as he sat down next to him. Manfred had emerged from the ordeal with Borlath changed, over the past weeks he had become intensely introspective, hardly speaking, often glancing nervously around a room.

"I'm fine," He rubbed his wrists, "Gonna have these scars forever and they feel odd sometimes but, otherwise, all is well."'

"That's good. I... er... what are you doing out here?"

"Enjoying the relative peace... this place is going to get very crazy, very quickly."

"Can this place get any crazier?" He looked back at the house where there was a near zoo of pets and children running around.

"Oh yes. They haven't started dancing yet."

"Oh."

Manfred went back to his now common-place brooding silence, staring out across the fields. His hands twisting nervously in the fabric of his shirt, over and over again.

"Manfred," Lucien took Manfred's hands and smoothed out the crinkled shirt, "Stop it. Everything is fine."

"I hurt you, Lucien." Manfred looked down at the ground.

"It wasn't you."

"I remember it. I was aware of it as it happened, I did not stop him. _I _hurt _you_."

"Manfred, I don't blame you."

"But it changes nothing," Manfred took Lucien's wrists and turned them over, lightly stroking the pink hand-print shaped scars, "I did this to you, I can never forgive myself."

"Well you should." Lucien reached into his pocket and held a ring flat on hand, "Here, I want you to have this."

"What is it?" Manfred looked at the ring suspiciously.

"Jassie gave it to me after the battle. She kept the binding one but I suspect she knew what I would do with this." He held it up, the sun glinting off the band, "Borlath was bound by her ring, and now he is here."

Manfred took the ring and stared hard at it, the stone was not the familiar ruby that was on Jasmine's ring but clear with a tiny, swirling mass of white light contained inside.

"Why would you give me this?"

"I think you have a right to it. You are his descendant and you did suffer much and will suffer, you have his memories now. There is no one better to guard this."

"I think your trust is misplaced."

"I don't."

Manfred smiled at Lucien and tucked the ring into a pocket. He was about to say more but the relative silence was broken by hysterical laugher and the sound of a cow bell being rung.

Jasmine had run down the hill and crashed into her brother's back, nearly pitching him off the wall. He pulled her around to sit next to him on the fence. Jasmine was laughing madly, she had cake liberally smeared across her face.

The cow bell came closer, "Lane is coming!" She shrieked and rolled off the fence to hide in the grass.

Lucien turned around and smiled indulgently as Lane came racing towards them, jumped over the fence and pounced on Jasmine. All the while ringing a cow bell that she had stolen from an older cousin.

"GOTCHA!"

The two girls rolled away down the hill.

"Your family truly is insane," Manfred turned to Lucien, smiling widely.

"I know." Lucien kissed him briefly, "I know."


	20. Chapter 20

_Wow! We're at the very end now, it has been a long and somewhat arduous journey but it is finally finished. So yeah, I've had fun and thank you to those of you who have been reviewing as well as just reading, it means a lot to hear from you. Anyway, to the finish:_

**Chapter 20**

**The Smith Family**

The last week of term saw the drama departments annual production. This year they had decided to put on Alice in Wonderland. The entire Smith family turned out for the production. Grandparents, parents, younger siblings and older siblings. They took up an entire two rows.

Jasmine had scored the part of the Cheshire Cat, she had great fun on stage, teasing Alice, played by a tiny third year student of prodigious talent, laughing as she stood on her head and demanded the girl do the same. Lucien had played the part of the Mad Hatter to perfection, cackling madly and acting so completely different to his usual, reserved, self that many people wondered if it was even him on stage. Lane had the part of the white rabbit, she adored her costume and had refused to return it to the art department when the play was finished, choosing to keep it for future use.

It was Quin, however, who stole the show, even from the talented little Alice girl. She was the Queen of Hearts. She had an excellent time stomping around the stage in her pouffy dress, screaming out at the audience.

There were still a few days of school left so after the play, most of the children trooped into the hall to have a tremendous after party, happily ignoring mingling with their friends and family alike. Jasmine was running around like crazy, shrieking and spaying silly string on people. Quin was trailing after her, hitting people with her heart-topped sceptre. Lucien was seated at a table, watching the antics of his sister and cousin with his usual indulgent smile when he noticed trouble in the form of Quin's family.

"Quintina!"

Quin froze, arm raised high, sceptre held aloft. She turned slowly, mechanically to face the person who had called her name. When she recognised them, all the colour drained from her face and her usual crazy smile disappeared. She looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights.

"Zylia!" Quin's tone was one of surprised outrage. All around her the party continued but she felt as if everything had frozen, a minute ago if anyone had told her her sister would show up to her school play she would have laughed in their face and whacked them extra hard with her sceptre, "What are you doing here?"

Quin's elder sister, Zylia, came towards her, people shying away from the tall, slender woman as she passed. Zylia walked to her sister and embraced her stiffly, "I came to see your little play. You could at least pretend to be happy to see me."

"Why would I be happy to see you?" Quin snarked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Quintina." Zylia's tone was reproving, "I see you are well."

"Quite."

Zylia rolled her eyes at Quin's reticence, all too used to her odd sister, "That is fine."

"Glad to hear it." Quin turned away, ready to flee to the other side of the room but paused, "Why are you really here?"

"Mother sent me to check up on you, she was worried that our... relatives, might be having an adverse affect on your behaviour. Clearly she was right to be worried." Zylia's eyes slid across the crowd, surveying her cousins, most of whom where in various states of mischief.

"You're here to check up on me?"

"Bring you home actually,"

"Home?"

"Yes, Quintina, mother has been less than impressed with the level of discipline visited upon you by our grandparents."

"Lolly and Pop are awesome," She defended her grandparents, "I'd rather stay with them then be at home with you and mum and dad."

"Like it or not, tomorrow morning you will be returning home with me."

"You are taking me home." Quin couldn't seem to comprehend the terrible fact.

"Yes!" Zylia seemed exasperated, "Don't look so surly,

"God I hate you guys," Quin was ready to disappear into the crowd, "You're the ones who wanted me to attend this quack school and now you're unhappy with the results?"

"Don't be ridiculous. The school is of excellent standards, we can't blame them for the inadequacies of our relatives."

Quin stood very still, obviously processing the dilemma presented by her sister's arrival and the orders of her parents. She opened her mouth to speak, once, twice and then without warning she lifted her leg and stomped down on her sister's foot. Zylia hissed in shock and pain, giving Quinn enough time to run away into the crowd, seeking refuge among her motley friends and cousins.

"THEY'RE TAKING ME HOME!" Quin shrieked loudly to Jasmine and Asa, "I DON'T WANT TO BE A PRISONER AGAIN! I'VE HAD MY TASTE OF FREEDOM."

Jasmine looked at her cousin wide eyed, "What can we do?"

They were huddled in the art cloak room, hiding from Zylia and the wide variety of authority figures that would be quick to destroy any plans of preventing Quin returning to her parents.

"Lock her up somewhere! Get Lolly and Pop to say they want to keep me! I don't know!"

"We could just try and extract a promise that you can come visit..." Jasmine entered hesitantly into the planning.

"Not good enough!" snapped Quin.

"Is your sister one for taking walks at night?" Asa queried, "If so she could mysteriously disappear tonight." He ended his suggestion on an ominous note.

Quin perked up at that, "Yes! I like that suggestion. I could pretend to run away and she would probably follow me and then..."

"No, Quin." Jasmine said, "No matter how annoying she is, I can't let one of my cousins be eaten."

"I wouldn't eat her!" Asa exclaimed, sounding more than a little offended.

"Well whatever. The Bloors and Quin's parents aren't stupid, they'll know that you did it. Besides, wouldn't an attack on Zylia just make their parents more determined to bring Quin home?"

"Yeah my parents are ridiculously stubborn like that." Quin slumped down to the floor, "I hate my family."

"You can come back soon. They can't force you to stay."

"Narp." Quin made a strange noise, "I could hide in our closet!" She said desperately, clutching at straws, "They'd never find me in there!"

"Really, Quin, really?"

"No." She grumbled and folded her arms across her chest, "Damn it. I'll have to go with them, won't I?"

"I think so." Jasmine confirmed, "I'm not going to have anyone to share a room with. I'll have to convince Lucien to come and live with me."

"Can you please not worry about my replacement until after I've left!"

"Sorry, I don't want you to go." Jas quickly amended, "We could give that hiding in the wardrobe a go, maybe you'd find an entrance to Narnia and we could all go and live there."

"That would be totally awesome. We can be the Queens, us four, you and me and Lane and Liz and Hera... that's more than four. Whatever. There can be six Queens and we will rule a land filled with sunshine and unicorns and live in a golden marshmallow palace."

Jasmine giggled, "That sounds completely awesome we should definitely explore the wardrobe at some point but in the mean time... just run up a really huge phone bill."

"You better believe I will."

* * *

The next morning was a sorrowful scene.

Zylia's expensive car was parked directly in front of the Smith house, the trunk was open and expectantly waiting for Quin's possessions. Zylia was tapping her foot impatiently, so far Quin had managed to delay their departure by two hours. Indiana had tried to keep Zylia company, they were the same age and had gotten along relatively well when they had been children. Indi was also considered to be the most sensible out of all the people in residence at the Smith house and it was thought that she would probably be the one who would annoy Zylia the least.

Zylia stalked into the house and came across her younger sister sitting in the living room, calmly sipping tea and emerged in an animated conversation with her cousins and friends, who had turned out for the farewell.

"Quintina." Zylia's tone was frosty, "I have been waiting."

"So you have!" Quin said cheerfully, "That must have been terribly boring, why don't you come and take tea with us?"

"I'm not in the mood to play games with you. I want to be home before dinner."

Quin rolled her eyes and took a sip from her cup, "I will be with you shortly, sister dear. My bags are by the door, feel free to place them in the trunk of the car."

Zylia's eyes narrowed, "Now Quintina!" She snapped, "I don't have time for your childish games."

A long suffering sigh escaped Quin's lips as she placed her tea cup on the table and stood up, rolling her shoulders, "Fine." As she slowly stretched her friends and cousins streamed out of the room to form a sort of honour guard, lining the halls and leading outside all the way to the waiting car.

Quin grinned and skipped through the honour guard, hugging and kissing all her relations as she did so. At the very end of the guard, right near the car were her closest cousins and friends. Quin hugged Hera, Lane, Liz, Lucien and finally Jasmine, standing right in front of her cousin. She spoke rapidly in some sort of gibberish, Jasmine doubled over laughing before managing to reply in the same gibberish. The two shook hands, embraced and then Quin turned to face Asa, sighing deeply. He wordlessly held out his arms and she stepped into them, allowing him to hug her tightly.

"Your parents suck." He murmured into her ear, "Are you sure you don't want me to eat your sister? It isn't too late."

Quin lightly hit his shoulder, "One of these days I'm going to accept your offer and I'll probably regret it in the morning."

"So this is good bye then."

"Hey, I'll see you again, mister." Quin kissed him briefly and slid into the car. Asa closed the door behind her and stepped away

"Count on it." He grinned at her, waving as Zylia started the car and without waving to her relatives turned it around, zooming down the long drive way. Quin had rolled down her window and was leaning out of it at a wildly dangerous angle, waving madly as all her friends and cousins ran behind the car as fast as they could.

"Bye Quin!"

"See you later!"

"We'll miss you!"

"Come back soon!"

When she could no longer see her friends and family, Quin turned around and settled into the seat, harrumphing quietly to herself. She paid no attention to the irritated look Zylia gave her beginning, instead, to formulate her plan of escape and return to her real family. She giggled softly, "I'll be back before you know it."


End file.
